Abstract
Methane fermentation from acetate was investigated with microorganisms immobilized in the gel of a photocrosslinkable resin. Compared with free microorganism system, the immobilized-microorganism system offered some advantages such as increased tolerance to O2 toxicity and maintenance of high cell concentration in reactor which led to enhanced methane production rate. It was possible to simulate methane fermentation with the immobilized microorganisms, based on the equations in terms of substrate inhibition, pH influence and so on. Characterizations of reactors were carried out for stirred tank, draft-tube fluidized bed and fixed bed bioreactors with the immobilized methane bacteria. The fixed bed bioreactor exhibited the most successful fermentation result on the experimental and calculated bases.
