The objective of this research was to study the effects
of nutrient supplement and chitosan on microbial change in an up-flow-anaerobic-sludge-blanket
(UASB)
reactor during biogas production. Three UASB reactors
were operational in this study. All reactors were
operated by feeding dilute stillage with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration
at 10,000 mg/L
and 9 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT) under
anaerobic conditions. Reactor 2 and
reactor 3 were supplemented with nutrient supplement and chitosan, respectively. The
results of the environment and pH values of all UASB reactors showed similar
conditions with total volatile acid/alkalinity (TVA/Alk) values
of 0.27-0.31. The
COD removal efficiency of reactor 1 (stillage),
2 (stillage
and nutrient supplement) and 3 (stillage
and chitosan) showed
about 79%,
84% and
87%,
respectively. In
addition, it was found that the UASB reactors supplemented withnutrient
supplement or chitosan produced higher levels of biogas than those without
additives. The
16S rRNA technique by PCR reaction showed that the
dominant archaea in the final fermentation of all UASB reactors and in inoculum
sample were hydrogenotrophic (genus Methanobacterium) and
acetotrophic methanogens (genus Methanosaeta). The
methanogens population in the reactor supplemented with chitosan (18.11%) produced
more biogas than the ones in the reactor supplemented with nutrient supplement (14.44%) and
in the control reactor (15.95%).