Recent developments in hydrogen management during anaerobic biological wastewater treatment.

A comprehensive review of the microbial kinetics, energetics, and substrate specificities of anaerobic waste-water treatment systems is presented with descriptions of three different state-of-the-art reactor configurations. Each of these reactor systems is intended to enrich different populations of anaerobic acidogens and methanogens as a result of design and operational strategies for control of hydrogen and volatile acids. Imposition of these strategies results in different substrate utilization patterns, conversion kinetics, and operational stabilities as are currently being demonstrated in laboratory-scale investigations.