Behaviour of an anaerobic expanded bed reactor in non-steady state conditions

This paper presents a series of experimental data on an expanded bed anaerobic reactor operating at high organic loading rates in non-steady state conditions. The first four experiments were conducted in start-up periods after shut-downs. In the section dedicated to behaviour in the face of fluctuations, two experiments with overloading, two with decrease in temperature and one with air inflow, have been included. In all cases, the reactor demonstrated great stability with short recovery periods.