Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Multiscale hydrodynamic investigation to intensify the biogas

production in upow anaerobic reactors
Jiankai Jiang a, Jing Wu b, Jinbai Zhang a, Souhila Poncin a, Huai Z. Li a,
a
Laboratory of Reactions and Process Engineering, Universit de Lorraine, CNRS, 1, rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy cedex, France
b
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

 Hydrodynamics plays a major role in

Mouvement and size of bubble
improving the performance of upow Liquid flow field Shear rate field
reactors. Circulation velocity
 Gas > solid > liquid can be ordered as
for the circulation velocity. High-speed
Micro-PIV Microscope PIV
 Motion between bubbles and liquid is digital camera

the key parameter affecting the shear

Mesoscale

Comprehension and
improvement

rates.
 Shear rate exerted on a sludge
granule displays an optimum biogas Hydrodynamics in
upflow anaerobic
production rate. reactors

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Hydrodynamics plays a main role for the performance of an anaerobic reactor involving three phases:
Received 28 October 2013 wastewater, sludge granules and biogas bubbles. The present work was focused on an original approach
Received in revised form 14 December 2013 to investigate the hydrodynamics at different scales and then to intensify the performance of such
Accepted 19 December 2013
complex reactors. The experiments were carried out respectively in a 3D reactor at macroscale, a 2D reac-
Available online 28 December 2013
tor at mesoscale and a 1D anaerobic reactor at microscale. A Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a micro-PIV
and a high-speed camera were employed to quantify the liquid ow elds and the relative motion
Keywords:
between sludge granules and bubbles. Shear rates exerted on sludge granules were quantied from liquid
Upow anaerobic reactor
Biogas production
ow elds. The optimal biogas production is obtained at mean shear rate varying from 28 to 48 s1,
Hydrodynamics which is controlled by two antagonistic mechanisms. The multiscale approach demonstrates pertinent
Multiscale approach mechanisms proper to each scale and allows a better understanding of such reactors.
PIV and micro-PIV 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction digestion through the evolution of anaerobic reactors based on

granular sludge. Upow anaerobic reactors including upow
Due to the fast consumption of fossil fuels coupled with an anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, internal circulation
increasing demand of energy, the energy shortage appears to be anaerobic (ICA) reactor and expanded granular sludge blanket
one of great worldwide challenges. Plenty of attentions have been (EGSB) reactor etc. as the most advanced upow anaerobic reactors
paid to develop alternate energy such as solar energy, wind energy, are widely used and constructed in the world. The existence of
biofuel, etc. The anaerobic digestion is an efcient and convenient UASB units are more than 1000 operating all over the world, while
approach to generate biogas, which can be converted into heat, the total number of ICA and EGSB installations are over 300, and
electricity or vehicle fuel after purication and compression. In re- increase rapidly in recent 20 years (Kassam et al., 2003; Musee
cent years, signicant progress has been obtained in anaerobic and Lorenzen, 2013). The organic loading of ICA reactor is 35
times higher than UASB reactor because of the enhanced mass
transfer due to faster supercial liquid velocity and gas velocity.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 383 175 109.
The supercial liquid velocity of the former reactor is 1020 m/h
E-mail address: Huai-Zhi.Li@univ-lorraine.fr (H.Z. Li).

0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.12.079
2 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17
while it is less than 1 m/h in the latter. Thus the hydrodynamics
plays a crucial role in the upow anaerobic reactors.
The understanding of the hydrodynamics in the upow anaero-
bic reactors is still limited since the study is focused mainly on the
performance of the reactors treating various wastewater and en-
ergy recovery up to now (Latif et al., 2011; Seghezzo et al., 1998;
Tauseef et al., 2013; Uemura and Harada, 2000). The impacts of
some key operational parameters such as hydraulic and organic
loadings, temperature, nutrients and pH have been discussed (Chan
et al., 2009; Ghangrekar et al., 2005; Liu and Tay, 2002; Wu et al.,
2009). Some studies were devoted to the sludge granulation pro-
cess and the characteristics of mature granular sludge, like the for-
mation, structure, size, rheology, metabolism of granular sludge in
the anaerobic reactor (Baloch et al., 2008; Batstone and Keller,
2001; Bhunia and Ghangrekar, 2007; Hulshoff Pol et al., 2004; Liu
et al., 2003; Mu et al., 2006; Pevere et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2006).
From experimental data, there are only a few studies on the hydro-
dynamic characteristics of upow anaerobic reactor by establishing
a global model or adopting Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
simulation (Ren et al., 2009; Vesvikar and Al-Dahhan, 2005; Wu,
2010; Wu and Chen, 2008). The hydrodynamics in UASB could be
described by the consecutive CSTR (continuous stirred tank reactor)
model including either equal-sized CSTRs or increasing-size CSTRs
(Costello et al., 1991a,b; Ren et al., 2009). It seems that the hydro-
dynamic behavior is basically dispersion-controlled. Other kinds
of reactors were also studied like EGSB, fermentative hydrogen bio-
reactor (Chu et al., 2011; Zheng et al., 2012). However, to our best
knowledge, accurate measurements of the local hydrodynamics in
upow anaerobic reactor are scarce. Thus, it is essential to gain
the hydrodynamic understanding for improving the reactor perfor-
mance and the biogas production.
The upow anaerobic reactors based on sludge granules are typ-
ical three-phase (gasliquidsolid) reactors, with really complex
hydrodynamics inside. For example, ICA reactor has two reaction
stages (namely, the 1st stage and 2nd stage), settling stage, riser,
downcomer and gas/liquid separator. Internal circulation is nor-
mally caused by the different densities in the riser and downcomer.
Most biogas is produced in the 1st stage, then, biogas is trapped in
the rst section of gas-hoods and rises through the riser section to a
gasliquid separator placed on top of the reactor including liquid to
be recycled. The denser liquid after being degassed goes back
through the downcomer to the rst stage. The biogas thus drives
an internal circulation ow, which results in good mixing in the
bottom section and enhances mass transfer between granules and
wastewater. As a key conception parameter in ICA reactors, liquid
circulation velocity and its major effects have to be studied (Hu,
2011). Biomass retention takes place in the 2nd stage.
The present study aims at studying the hydrodynamic charac-
teristics in upow reactors of ICA type by means of an original mul-
tiscale approach. Especially, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV),
micro-PIV and high-speed digital camera were employed for the
rst time to quantify the hydrodynamics at three different scales:
rstly, in a 3D macroscale reactor; secondly, the liquid ow and
shear rate elds in the reaction zone and downcomer in a 2D meso-
scale reactor; and nally, the detailed liquid ow and shear rate
elds around single granules in a 1D microscale reactor. These ad-
vanced techniques allow quantifying various phenomena at differ-
ent scales including the role of bubbles size on the shear rate and
the optimal ow conditions for the biogas production in such up-
ow anaerobic reactors.
2. Methods
It is still impossible to study the uid ows in a real anaerobic
reactor due to total opacity induced by biolm developing on the
reactor walls as well as concentrated sludge granules. Thus tap
water and nitrogen were used to simulate the wastewater (liquid)
and generated biogas, respectively in this study at both macroscale
and mesoscale.
2.1. Experimental features of the 3D reactor at macroscale
Experiments were conducted in a transparent 3D ICA reactor
made of Plexiglas with diameter 50 mm and height 1400 mm
(Fig. 1a). A transparent cylinder of diameter 15 mm was used as
downcomer for liquid circulation outside. Nitrogen was introduced
into the reactor through a perforated panel of 0.5 mm installed on
the bottom. Demineralized water was pumped by a peristaltic
pump into the reactor from the bottom. The ow rates of both
water and nitrogen were monitored by ow meters.
2.2. Experimental features of the 2D reactor at mesoscale
To be able to observe interactions never observed so far be-
tween bubble and granular sludge and calculate shear rate exerted
on granules, a transparent 2D reactor made of Plexiglas with a
30  10 mm cross section and 250 mm height was employed to
mimic the reaction zone of ICA reactor (Fig. 1b). Both a sintered
metal distributor and a sieve distributor were equipped succes-
sively in the bottom of the reactor to inject nitrogen with various
diameters of bubbles. Liquid entered into the reactor from the bot-
tom. The liquid ow rate was 75 mL/min during the experiments
and the supercial liquid velocity was 4.17  103 m/s (i.e. 15 m/
h), the typical value for full-scale reactors. And nitrogen ow rate
was varied to change the liquid circulation intensity.
2.3. Experimental features of the 1D reactor at microscale
Experiments under anaerobic conditions were conducted in a
1D transparent microreactor made of Plexiglas: width  height:
2  2 mm (Fig. 1c). A single granule of various sizes (equivalent
diameter from 1.05 to 1.57 mm) was set up by a small grid. The
synthetic substrate of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of
3000 mg/L was prepared in a reservoir of 15 L for each experiment,
where the composition of the synthetic substrate was same as de-
scribed in previous work (Zhang et al., 2012). It was designed to
supply sufcient substrate for maintaining a constant value of
COD at the inlet, and pumped into the microreactor. The tempera-
ture was controlled at 30 C by a thermobath. The sludge granules
used in our experiments were selected under the batch conditions
with the same feeding solution used in the experiments for their
proven methanogenic efciency. The experiments ran under vari-
ous liquid supercial velocities (05.21  103 m/s) in order to ob-
tain different hydrodynamic conditions, zero liquid velocity
corresponding to stagnant batch condition.
Besides the hydrodynamic characterization, the biogas produc-
tion was monitored as well in this microreactor. The size of biogas
microbubbles was determined using a quantitative image analysis
program in Matlab and the shape of produced microbubbles was
fairly spherical due to their small size (typically, diameter
<0.36 mm). To quantify the biogas production rate, during a certain
time interval (typically 1520 min), the recordings of all the biogas
microbubbles successively formed were performed. The volume of
all the microbubbles recorded during the interval was employed to
evaluate the biogas production rate at this moment. Eight such
samples were consecutively recorded for each granule during
3 days, e.g. for a given liquid velocity to check the repeatability
of the measured biogas production rate.
 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17
Fig. 1. Schematic presentation of (a) 3D macroreactor; (b) 2D mesoreactor and (c) 1D microreactor.
2.4. Liquid ow and shear rate elds
Instantaneous velocity elds in the 3D and 2D reactor was ob-
tained with a PIV system (Dantec Dynamics, Denmark), which
was composed of two pulsed Nd-YAG Lasers (New Wave Research,
USA), two CCD cameras, a control unity (FlowMap 1500) and a
computer. Water was inseminated with silvered glass micro-
spheres of average diameter 15 lm and density 1400 kg/m3 as
seeding particles to trace the liquid. The sedimentation velocity
of the seeding particles was around 30 lm/s. Compared to the li-
quid velocity used in this study (4200 lm/s), the errors in liquid
velocities measurements did not exceed 1%. The laser beams
crossed a cylindrical lens rstly to produce laser sheet with strong
light intensity and low thickness (2.0  103 m maximum). They
were focused and superposed on one measuring window crossing
the vertical symmetry axis of the dispersed phase. The camera
placed perpendicular to the laser sheet took successively images
at the maximum intensity of the laser pulse. Then these raw suc-
cessive image pairs were analyzed by the FlowMap software (Dan-
tec Dynamics, Denmark) to produce ow elds. The error of PIV
was less than 5% via the experimental calibration of the velocity
in an empty cylinder.
For the 1D microreactor, a micro-PIV system (Dantec Dynamics,
Denmark) was used to measure the instantaneous liquid velocity
ow eld by adding the carrier uid with calibrated Latex seeding
particles (Merck, France) of diameter 0.88 lm and density 1056 kg/
m3 and visualizing the ow through a  5 objective mounted on an
inverted microscope with a numerical aperture of 0.12 (Dietrich
et al., 2008). The concentration of the seeding particles in the solu-
tion was prepared to ensure approximately ve particles in each
interrogation area. The ow was illuminated by a laser. By shadow-
graph of the seeding particles, images of the ow were taken by a
double image digital camera through the microscope. The duration
of the laser pulse was 0.01 ls. After exposure, the image eld was
transferred to the storage on the digital camera, so that a second
image eld could be recorded by the camera. After a specied time
delay, ranging from 10 to 300 ls depending on the liquid velocities
3
in our case, a second laser pulse was used to record another image.
Both images were then recorded on a computer for further
analyzing.
The shear rate elds are calculated as follows from the original
database of ow elds acquired by PIV or micro-PIV devices:
c_ x j u1xduy 2x j
c_ y j u1ydux 2y j 1
q
c_ c_ 2x c_ 2y
where u1 and u2 are two arbitrary adjoining vectors in ow elds
separated by a distance d; ux and uy are x axis component and y axis
component of liquid velocity u; and c_x ; c_y are the axis projections of
the shear rate c_ .
2.5. Collisions between bubbles and sludge granules
A high-speed digital camera (Optronis GMBH, Germany) was
employed to visualize collisions between bubbles and sludge gran-
ules in the 3D and 2D reactors. In this part of experiments, 200
frames per second (fps) and an exposure time of 1/500 s were used.
An evident contrast demanded by the image analysis was insured
by strong LED backlight with emitting surface of 100  100 mm
(Stemmer Imaging, United Kingdom).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. 3D reactor at macroscale
In industrial ICA reactors, the internal circulation is a key
parameter to obtain the optimal hydrodynamic conditions. On
one hand, ow rate of the liquid circulation, up to several times
higher than that of the inuent, can dilute toxic substances con-
centration thereby to improve the capacity of resistance to shock
loadings. On the other hand, the alkalinity in the circulation keeps
pH stable without the addition of alkali. Thus, main factors
4 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17

affecting the internal circulation were extensively investigated by viscosity, Pa s. The range of the corresponding Reynolds number
the PIV technique in a lab-scale 3D macroscale reactor. gathered in Table 1 shows the maximum is 455, much less than
Three phases, gas bubbles, liquid and sludge granules, contrib- the threshold of 2100 for the laminar ow regime in an empty tube.
ute to the internal circulation through complex interactions in an Due to these detailed ow elds and velocity proles obtained
anaerobic reactor. Since the liquid circulation was mainly driven by the PIV, it is easy to compute local shear rates by deriving ow
by gas bubbles, the circulation velocity increased with the super- elds as well as to estimate a mean shear rate in the downcomer.
cial gas velocity as shown in Fig. 2a. It is worth noting that the Certainly, the shear rate is not homogeneous across the pipe sec-
velocity in the presence of sludge granules was signicantly lower tion due to the velocity prole. The local shear rate in the center
than that without granules. This indicates that effects of suspended of the downcomer was zero due to the symmetry of the velocity
sludge cannot be ignored. In fact, the presence of granules in- prole while the maximum located close to the walls. As expected,
creases the viscosity of the mixture and induces then higher energy a linear relationship between the mean shear rate and the mean li-
consumption. And the circulation velocity decreased slightly with quid circulation velocity does exist: the shear is to some extent
the increase of inuent liquid ow rate in spite of the presence intensied by the circulation.
or absence of granular sludge. Fig. 2b shows clearly that the circu-
lation velocity was inversely correlated to the inuent liquid ow
rate and the presence of granules increased the slope. The relative
3.2. 2D reactor at mesoscale
importance of the three phases was ordered as gas > solid > liquid
for the liquid circulation velocity under experimental conditions.
Similar experiments were carried out in the 2D reactor at meso-
The liquid and gas velocities are key hydrodynamic parameters
scale with the PIV technique. Fig. 4a shows that mean shear rate in
for reactors at macroscale. But they are not sufcient yet to de-
the main section increases continuously with the supercial gas
scribe the complex hydrodynamic conditions because they can nei-
velocity. Implicitly, this augmentation could be attributed to the
ther reect interactions among three phases nor local ow
size of bubbles generated: higher liquid velocities as well as mean
parameters such as the shear on the sludge granule. Even the glo-
shear rate are induced by more and bigger bubbles.
bal pattern like dead zones isnt directly involved in the velocities
In order to demonstrate the effect of bubbles size on the mean
of gas and liquid. The PIV technique provides then a powerful tool
shear rate in the liquid, two different gas distributors were em-
to investigate the local hydrodynamic conditions in the reactors.
ployed to generate different sizes of bubbles with the same super-
Within the reactor, it is inevitable to meet both general and local
cial gas velocity: a sintered distributor and a sieve distributor. By
circulations because the average liquid ascension velocity is smal-
means of the PIV measurements, Fig. 4b illustrates the computed
ler than local liquid velocity generated by bubbles. It can be ex-
results with bubbles of various sizes generated by both the gas dis-
pected that the supercial gas velocity is dominant for the shear
tributors. Clearly, there is again a close relationship between the
rate with respect to the supercial liquid velocity. The mean shear
mean shear rate in liquid and mean bubble diameter whatever
rate in industrial ICA reactors was roughly estimated about 30
the kind of distributors and supercial gas velocity. Due to the
40 s1, and was attributed to the high supercial gas velocity
low supercial liquid velocity in upow reactors, these results con-
(Pereboom and Vereijken, 1994).
rm that the relative motion between gas bubbles and liquid is the
The circulation liquid velocity in the downcomer was also mea-
dominant parameter affecting the shear rates exerted on sludge
sured by the PIV in the present work and resulting instantaneous
granules. In addition, smaller bubbles whose diameter was less
liquid ow elds are shown in Fig. 3b. The ow regime is typically
than 1 mm display few effects on the velocity eld or the shear
laminar as the velocity prole in the half-pipe section integrated
rate. Four bubbles of diameter 0.82, 0.85, 0.86, 0.88 mm, respec-
from the detailed ow elds is perfectly parabolic under various
tively in mid of the reactor have in fact no signicant impact on
conditions (Fig. 3a). Moreover, it is interesting to consider a liquid
the shear rate which is almost below to 5 s1 everywhere. In con-
Reynolds number in the downcomer dened as follows:
trary, bigger bubbles having a diameter more than 2 mm affect
qL u d substantially local liquid ow elds and the shear rates due to in-
Re 2 tense buoyancy. It is worth noting that the complex coupling be-
lL
tween a local liquid ow eld around a bubble and the wake left
where qL is the liquid density, kg m3; u
 the liquid mean velocity, by preceding ones induces additional difculties for detailed
m/s; d, diameter of the downcomer, m; lL, the liquid dynamical quantication.

Fig. 2. Circulation velocity in the 3D macroreactor. (a) In function of supercial gas velocity with different inuent liquid ow rates in the presence of granular sludge
(10 g SS/L), (b) in function of inuent liquid ow rate with different supercial gas velocities without or with granular sludge (10 g SS/L).
 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17 5

Fig. 3. (a) Liquid velocity prole of in a half-pipe section and (b) instantaneous liquid ow elds in the downcomer of the 3D macroreactor.

Some interesting scenarios were also observed related to interac-

tions between sludge granules and bubbles and coalescence be-
Table 1 tween bubbles. The spatially distributed sludge granules formed
Experimental values of Reynolds number under different supercial gas and liquid
obstacles to the free rise of bubbles. The modication of the rise
velocities.
trajectory of a bubble could produce a coalescence with another
Supercial Inuent liquid Inuent liquid Inuent liquid one in the passage. After the coalescence, the resulting bigger bub-
gas velocity velocity 0 m/s velocity velocity ble displays higher buoyancy to induce a more intense liquid ow
(m/s) with granular 2.21  103 m/s 4.24  103 m/s
sludge 10 g SS/L with granular with granular
elds around the neighboring sludge granule. In an industrial
sludge 10 g SS/L sludge 10 g SS/L installation, it can be expected that the presence of numerous
3.80  105 204 195 140
granules and biogas bubbles can enhance these phenomena of
6.69  105 286 193 139 interactions and coalescences.
1.56  104 301 295 265
1.94  104 395 312 262
2.31  104 455 342 350
3.3. 1D reactor at microscale

Under the optimal biogas production, the liquid velocity eld

The PIV technique can give detailed liquid ow elds to quantify
the shear rate exerted by the liquid on sludge granules, even in the
simultaneous presence of three phases in the 2D reactor at meso-
scale. The derivation of the ow eld leads to the shear rate eld
around sludge granules whose position is traced by cross symbols
in Fig. 4c. The maximum shear rate around the sludge granules is be-
tween 10 and 20 s1, higher than the mean shear rate ranging from 5
to 10 s1. In a real reactor, a higher shear rate at the surface of a
sludge granule is favorable for a more efcient mass transfer be-
tween sludge granules and liquid substrates. It is worth mentioning
that within the 2D reactor, the liquid height is still too limited to al-
low consecutive coalescences between bubbles. In fact, the range of
shear rates corresponds to bubbles whose size is much smaller than
that encountered in industrial reactors with substantial height.
According to these observations, the following mechanisms
could be proposed for what happens in industrial upow reactors.
Small biogas bubbles exist only in the bottom of reactors just after
the nucleation, growth and detachment from sludge granules. The
shear rate at the bottom of reactors is relatively low due to small
sizes of biogas bubbles. During the rise of small biogas bubbles,
the coalescence takes place to produce increasing sizes of bubbles
so that shear rate elds are intensied by larger bubbles after con-
secutive coalescences. It is then interesting to gain some insight
into the coalescence phenomena, in particular, to visualize and lo-
cate coalescing zones where main coalescences occur in the reac-
tor. Unlike the 3D reactor at macroscale, the 2D reactor at
mesoscale offers the possibility to visualize complex interactions
between sludge granules and bubbles, especially coalescence be-
tween bubbles with the help of the high-speed digital camera.
measured by the micro-PIV around a granule of equivalent diame-
ter 1.36 mm is shown in Fig. 5a as an example. The shear rate eld
was then deduced from the liquid ow eld. All shear rates around
the granule were averaged to get a mean value. Besides the classi-
cal relationship between the liquid ow and the mass transfer, the
sludge granule can undergo sharp deformation as a soft matter due
to the shear stresses exerted by the liquid to inhibit the mass trans-
fer. The mean shear rate exerted on the granule is then the most
suitable parameter describing reliably the local hydrodynamic con-
ditions under which the microbial population produces the biogas.
This can then help to better understand the hydrodynamic effects
on the biogas production on sludge granules rather than the liquid
Reynolds number which is a global parameter. The results pre-
sented in Fig. 5b show that the optimal mean shear rates (illus-
trated by red circle) vary from 28 to 48 s1, respectively for the
granules with an equivalent diameter ranging from 1.05 to
1.57 mm in order to achieve a maximum biogas production rate.
These original results reveal that there are two antagonist
mechanisms to control the biogas production rate, i.e. the en-
hanced mass transfer and the compaction of granules caused by
the high shear and they result in the existence of the optimal shear
rate. It is worth noting that the mean shear rates obtained in this
study are quantitatively consistent with the optimal values esti-
mated in industrial ICA reactors as mentioned before. The biogas
production is straightforwardly related to the shear rate exerted
on the granules of different sizes. These data could provide new in-
sight into the design and optimization of hydrodynamic conditions
in various anaerobic reactors. In the practice, the strategy of a
stepped increase of shear rate could be envisaged to nd out the
6 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17

Fig. 4. Variation of the mean shear rate in the main section of the 2D reactor at mesoscale. (a) In function of the supercial gas velocity, (b) in function of the mean bubble
diameter under a gas velocity of 9.61  104 m/s with a sintered distributor and a sieve distributor, respectively. (c) Instantaneous shear rate eld with cross symbols
representing sludge granules position at supercial gas velocity of 2.99  104 m/s in the 2D reactor.

Fig. 5. (a) Flow elds around a granule of 1.36 mm producing biogas obtained by the micro-PIV. (b) Relationship between the rate of biogas production and the mean shear
rate exerted by the liquid on the granules of different diameter.
 J. Jiang et al. / Bioresource Technology 155 (2014) 17
optimal range for both the wastewater treatment and biogas
production.
4. Conclusion
The multiphase hydrodynamics was investigated in the upow
anaerobic reactors at different scales. A relationship between li-
quid circulation in downcomer and supercial gas velocity in cen-
tral zone was established in the 3D reactor at macroscale. In the 2D
reactor at mesoscale, hydrodynamics resulting from complex
interactions between three phases was investigated and the rela-
tionship shear rates/sludge granules was related to the size of
gas bubbles. In the 1D microreactor, a straightforward relationship
between the shear rates exerted on the granule and the optimal
biogas production is found and the optimal mean shear rates vary
from 28 to 48 s1.
Acknowledgements
The nancial assistance provided by China Scholarship Council
and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR PROMET) to the
French group, and by the Natural Science Foundation of China
(51061130555 and 50978147) to the Chinese group is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
Baloch, M.I., Akunna, J.C., Kierans, M., Collier, P.J., 2008. Structural analysis of
anaerobic granules in a phase separated reactor by electron microscopy.
Bioresour. Technol. 99 (5), 922929.
Batstone, D.J., Keller, J., 2001. Variation of bulk properties of anaerobic granules
with wastewater type. Water Res. 35 (7), 17231729.
Bhunia, P., Ghangrekar, M.M., 2007. Required minimum granule size in UASB
reactor and characteristics variation with size. Bioresour. Technol. 98 (5), 994
999.
Chan, Y.J., Chong, M.F., Law, C.L., Hassell, D.G., 2009. A review on anaerobicaerobic
treatment of industrial and municipal wastewater. Chem. Eng. J. 155 (12), 1
18.
Chu, C.Y., Wu, S.Y., Wu, Y.C., Lin, C.Y., 2011. Hydrodynamic behaviors in
fermentative hydrogen bioreactors by pressure uctuation analysis. Bioresour.
Technol. 102 (18), 86698675.
Costello, D.J., Greeneld, P.F., Lee, P.L., 1991a. Dynamic modeling of a single-stage
high-rate anaerobic reactor. 1. Model derivation. Water Res. 25 (7), 847858.
Costello, D.J., Greeneld, P.F., Lee, P.L., 1991b. Dynamic modeling of a single-stage
high-rate anaerobic reactor. 2. Model verication. Water Res. 25 (7), 859871.
Dietrich, N., Poncin, S., Midoux, N., Li, H.Z., 2008. Bubble formation dynamics in
various ow-focusing microdevices. Langmuir 24 (24), 1390413911.
7
Ghangrekar, M.M., Asolekar, S.R., Joshi, S.G., 2005. Characteristics of sludge
developed under different loading conditions during UASB reactor start-up
and granulation. Water Res. 39 (6), 11231133.
Hu, J.C., 2011. A method of design and calculation for internal circulation (IC)
anaerobic reactor. China Biogas 29, 36 (in Chinese).
Hulshoff Pol, L.W., de Castro Lopes, S.I., Lettinga, G., Lens, P.N.L., 2004. Anaerobic
sludge granulation. Water Res. 38 (6), 13761389.
Kassam, Z.A., Yerushalmi, L., Guiot, S.R., 2003. A market study on the anaerobic
wastewater treatment systems. Water Air Soil Pollut. 143 (14), 179192.
Latif, M.A., Ghufran, R., Wahid, Z.A., Ahmad, A., 2011. Integrated application of
upow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor for the treatment of wastewaters.
Water Res. 45 (16), 46834699.
Liu, Y., Tay, J.-H., 2002. The essential role of hydrodynamic shear force in the
formation of biolm and granular sludge. Water Res. 36 (7), 16531665.
Liu, Y., Xu, H.-L., Yang, S.-F., Tay, J.-H., 2003. Mechanisms and models for anaerobic
granulation in upow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. Water Res. 37 (3), 661
673.
Mu, Y., Yu, H.-Q., Wang, G., 2006. Permeabilities of anaerobic CH4-producing
granules. Water Res. 40 (9), 18111815.
Musee, N., Lorenzen, L., 2013. Market dynamics as a driver towards the evolution of
research needs: the case of up-ow anaerobic sludge blanket seeding granules.
Water SA 39 (1), 131142.
Pereboom, J.H.F., Vereijken, T., 1994. Methanogenic granule development in full-
scale internal circulation reactors. Water Sci. Technol. 30 (8), 921.
Pevere, A., Guibaud, G., van Hullebusch, E., Lens, P., Baudu, M., 2006. Viscosity
evolution of anaerobic granular sludge. Biochem. Eng. J. 27 (3), 315322.
Ren, T.-T., Mu, Y., Ni, B.-J., Yu, H.-Q., 2009. Hydrodynamics of upow anaerobic
sludge blanket reactors. AIChE J. 55 (2), 516528.
Seghezzo, L., Zeeman, G., van Lier, J.B., Hamelers, H.V.M., Lettinga, G., 1998. A
review: the anaerobic treatment of sewage in UASB and EGSB reactors.
Bioresour. Technol. 65 (3), 175190.
Tauseef, S.M., Abbasi, T., Abbasi, S.A., 2013. Energy recovery from wastewaters with
high-rate anaerobic digesters. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 19, 704741.
Uemura, S., Harada, H., 2000. Treatment of sewage by a UASB reactor under
moderate to low temperature conditions. Bioresour. Technol. 72 (3), 275282.
Vesvikar, M.S., Al-Dahhan, M., 2005. Flow pattern visualization in a mimic
anaerobic digester using CFD. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 89 (6), 719732.
Wu, B., 2010. CFD simulation of gas and non-Newtonian uid two-phase ow in
anaerobic digesters. Water Res. 44 (13), 38613874.
Wu, B., Chen, S., 2008. CFD simulation of non-Newtonian uid ow in anaerobic
digesters. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 99 (3), 700711.
Wu, J., Lu, Z.Y., Hu, J.C., Feng, L., Huang, J.D., Gu, X.S., 2006. Disruption of granules by
hydrodynamic force in internal circulation anaerobic reactor. Water Sci.
Technol. 54 (9), 916.
Wu, J., Zhou, H.M., Li, H.Z., Zhang, P.C., Jiang, J., 2009. Impacts of hydrodynamic
shear force on nucleation of occulent sludge in anaerobic reactor. Water Res.
43 (12), 30293036.
Zhang, J.B., Wu, J., Poncin, S., Hamelin, M., Li, H.Z., 2012. Microscale investigation of
anaerobic biogas production under various hydrodynamic conditions. Environ.
Sci. Technol. 46 (16), 86988704.
Zheng, M.X., Wang, K.J., Zuo, J.E., Yan, Z., Fang, H., Yu, J.W., 2012. Flow pattern
analysis of a full-scale expanded granular sludge bed-type reactor under
different organic loading rates. Bioresour. Technol. 107, 3340.