Title: High-rate anaerobic treatment of distillery spentwash using UASB and UAHR

Authors: M. Selvamurugan; P. Doraisamy; M. Maheswari

Addresses: Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641003, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket and upflow anaerobic hybrid reactor in treatment of distillery spentwash was investigated under similar operating conditions. The reactors were initially fed with distillery spentwash having an average COD concentration of 1,22,000 mg L⁻¹ with a HRT of 10 days and their performance was evaluated by operating at various HRTs viz., 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 days. Among the various HRTs, six days HRT was found to be ideal for the maximum reductions of COD, BOD and TS by 63.26, 70.80 and 57.20% respectively at OLR of 19.75 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹ with UASB and 70.60, 78.50 and 62.45% at OLR of 19.25 kg COD m⁻³ day⁻¹ with UAHR. The biogas yield of 0.30 and 0.31 m³ kg⁻¹ COD removed was recorded in UASB and UAHR. Population of total anaerobic bacteria and methanogenic bacteria are also high in UAHR than in UASB. The study concludes that upflow anaerobic hybrid reactor is superior in reducing the pollution load of distillery spentwash as compared to UASB.

Keywords: upflow anaerobic sludge blanket; UASB; upflow anaerobic hybrid reactor; UAHR; hydraulic retention time; biogas production; spentwash treatment; distillery spentwash; environmental pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2014.064303

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2014 Vol.6 No.3, pp.273 - 286

Received: 31 Aug 2011
Accepted: 03 Aug 2012
Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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