Biodegradability and toxicity of styrene in the anaerobic digestion process

Abstract

Start-up and operation of an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor fed with an industrial effluent from a polymer synthesis plant containing 6 mg styrene 1ˉ¹ was unstable. In batch assays with 200 mg styrene 1ˉ¹, 74% of styrene was degraded at a rate of 7 ml methane gˉ¹ volatile suspended solids.day, without a lag phase. The toxicity limit (IC50) of styrene was 1.4 mM for the acetoclastic activity, 0.45 and 1.6 mM for the methanogenic activity in the presence of 30 mM of propionate and ethanol respectively. Instability of UASB operation was attributed to other compounds such as acrylates or detergents present in the industrial effluent.