Acclimatation of an anaerobic biomass to high sulphur content pulp mill effluents
Anaerobic treatment of wastewater from chemico-thermomechanical pulping (CTMP) of softwoods was inhibited by sulphur containing compounds. Distillery skips are characterized by a high sulphur content and a more appropriate COD/sulphur ratio than CTMP wastewater. Using CTMP wastewater together with distiliery stops during initial starting up resulted in successful acclimatation of microorganisms to significant sulphate contents. Provided the COD/Sulphur was aboue 10 reasonably good treatment efficiency was obtained with CTMP wastewater containing to 500 mg total sulphur per liter.