Steady state characteristics of acclimated hydrogenotrophic methanogens on inorganic substrate in continuous chemostat reactors

A Monod model has been used to describe the steady state characteristics of the acclimated mesophilic hydrogenotrophic methanogens in experimental chemostat reactors. The bacteria were fed with mineral salts and specific trace metals and a H2/CO2 supply was used as a single limited substrate. Under steady state conditions, the growth yield (YCH4YCH4) reached 11.66 g cells per mmol of H2/CO2 consumed. The daily cells generation average was 5.67 × 1011, 5.25 × 1011, 4.2 × 1011 and 2.1 × 1011 cells/l-culture for the dilutions 0.071/d, 0.083/d, 0.1/d and 0.125/d, respectively. The maximum specific growth rate (μmax) and the Monod half-saturation coefficient (KS) were 0.15/d and 0.82 g/L, respectively. Using these results, the reactor performance was simulated. During the steady state, the simulation predicts the dependence of the H2/CO2 concentration (S) and the cell concentration (X) on the dilution rate. The model fitted the experimental data well and was able to yield a maximum methanogenic activity of 0.24 L CH4/g VSS.d. The dilution rate was estimated to be 0.1/d. At the dilution rate of 0.14/d, the exponential cells washout was achieved.