Kinetics of methane production from wine distillery wastewater in an immobilised cell bioreactor using sepiolite as support medium

A kinetic study of the anaerobic digestion of wine distillery wastewater (WDW) was carried out in a semicontinuous, well-stirred fermenter with microorganisms immobilized on sepiolite support. Substrate concentrations equal to or lower than 3.6 g COD/1 within the reactor resulted in a methane production rate that was first-order with respect to biodegradable substrate concentration. The apparent rate constant was proportional to the volatile suspended solids concentration and the product yield coefficient, Yp was 0.2851 CH4STP/g COD.