Performance evaluation of anaerobic hybrid reactors with different packing media for treating wastewater of mild alkali treated rice straw in ethanol fermentation process

Four anaerobic hybrid reactors with different packing media viz. gravel (R1), pumice stone (R2), polypropylene saddles (R3) and ceramic saddles (R4) were operated in semi-continuous mode. Biomethanation potential of the wastewater generated during alkali-treatment of rice straw in ethanol production process was investigated at ambient conditions. The reactors were operated with varying organic loading rates (0.861–4.313 g COD l−1 d−1) and hydraulic retention time (3–15 days). Higher COD removal efficiency (69.2%) and methane yield (0.153 l CH4 g−1 CODadded) were achieved in reactor R2 at 15 days HRT. Modified Stover–Kincannon model was applied to estimate the bio-kinetic coefficients and fitness of the model was checked by the regression coefficient for all the reactors. The model showed an excellent correlation between the experimental and predicted values. The present study demonstrated the treatment of wastewater from alkali treated rice straw for production of biogas.