. 2017 Jan 31;10:23. doi: 10.1186/s13068-017-0701-8

Table 3.

Final yields and productivities of molasses fermentation in terrestrial and marine PBBRs

PBBR	Fermentation					Methanogenesis			Biomass	COD balance
	$\frac{{VFA}_{IN}}{{COD}_{IN}}$	$\frac{{VFA}_{OUT}}{{COD}_{OUT}}$	COD to VFAs	Y_VFA	VFAs prod.	CH₄ production		Yields	VSS	Fed	Removed	COD tracked
	$\frac{{VFA}_{IN}}{{COD}_{IN}}$	$\frac{{VFA}_{OUT}}{{COD}_{OUT}}$	COD to VFAs	Y_VFA	g_COD L⁻¹ d⁻¹	mL L⁻¹ d⁻¹	g_COD L⁻¹ d⁻¹	$L_{{CH}_{4}}$ g⁻¹_COD removed	g_COD L⁻¹ d⁻¹	g_COD L⁻¹ d⁻¹		g_COD L⁻¹ d⁻¹	%
Terrestrial
OLR 5
Mean	1.07	61.1	52.6	79.6	2.47	211.3	0.60	0.341	2.94	4.70	0.62	6.01	127.8
SD	0.16	4.6	5.6	7.0	0.56	2.6	0.01		0.68	0.58	0.22
OLR 10
Mean	1.38	74.7	66.7	85.8	6.77	362.7	1.04	0.324	3.40	9.82	1.12	11.21	114.2
SD	0.96	9.6	9.3	8.0	3.15	2.4	0.01		1.17	3.42	0.79

Marine

OLR 5

Mean

0.95

60.8

59.5

102.3

2.36

114.9

0.33

0.280

2.33

4.90

0.41

5.02

102.5

0.23

7.7

7.2

27.5

0.56

8.0

0.02

0.62

2.14

0.32

OLR 10

Mean

1.20

66.8

60.3

87.8

5.89

299.3

0.86

0.374

3.61

9.80

0.80

10.36

105.7

Mean and standard deviations refer to the last 10 days of operation. Conversion yields were assessed as indicated in Calculations, in “Methods” section. VSS in the effluent were considered as estimates of biomass production. Y _VFA is typically higher than COD to VFAs yield as in the former the COD in the outlet not converted to VFAs is not considered. While the former is an indication of the specific microbial activity, the COD to VFAs yield is a process parameter