ANAEROBIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS

Aerobic treatment systems such as the conventional activated sludge (CAS) process are widely
adopted for treating low strength wastewater (< 1000 mg COD/L) like municipal wastewater. CAS
process is energy intensive due to the high aeration requirement and it also produces large quantity of
sludge (about 0,4 g dry weight/g COD removed) that has to be treated and disposed off. As a result, the
operation and maintenance cost of a CAS system is considerably high. Anaerobic process for domestic
wastewater treatment are an alternative, that is potentially more cost-effective, particularly in the
subtropical and tropical regions where the climate is warm consistently throughout the year.
Anaerobic wastewater purification processes have been increasingly used in the last few decades. These
processes are important because they have positive effects: removal of higher organic loading, low sludge
production and high pathogen removal, methane gas production and low energy consumption

PSYCHROPHILIC ANAEROBIC TREATMENT PROCESS

Although anaerobic wastewater treatment plants for municipal wastewater have been successfully
operated in tropical countries such as Mexico, Columbia, India and China, the process until now has not
been applied in countries with moderate and low temperatures. At such temperatures, chemical oxygen
demand (COD) removal is limited and long hydraulic retention time is needed for one step system to
provide sufficient hydrolysis of particulate organics
Biodegradation of persistent organic compounds
Under psychrophilic conditions, chemical and biological reactions proceed much slower than
under mesophilic conditions. Most reactions in the biodegradation of organic matter require more energy
to proceed at low temperatures than at a temperature optimum of 37C (mesophilic conditions)
ANAEROBIC TREATMENT AEROBIC TREATMENT

Effect of low temperature on the physical and chemical properties of wastewater

A drop in temperature is accompanied with a change of the physical and chemical properties of
the wastewater, which can considerably affect design and operation of the treatment system. For instance,
the solubility of gaseous compounds increases as the temperature decreases below 20C. This implies that
the dissolved concentrations of methane, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen will be higher in the effluent of
reactors operated at low temperatures than those from reactors operated at high temperatures. The high
increase of solubility of CO 2 indicates that a slightly lower reactor pH might prevail under psychrophilic
conditions.
SOURCE: https://www.kth.se/polopoly_fs/1.650925!/JPSU16p13.pdf

Biological Nitrogen and COD Removal of Nutrient-Rich Wastewater Using

Aerobic and Anaerobic Reactors

A preliminary study on nitrogen and organic removal efficiency of a lab-scale system using
aerobic and anaerobic reactors was performed. A simulated wastewater containing elevated levels of
nitrogen was used. This paper aims to compare the efficiency of aerobic and anaerobic reactors in
achieving nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of nutrient-rich wastewater. It also
presents the start-up experimentation conducted on simulated wastewater using two different reactors
configured as aerobic and anaerobic.
Experiments were carried out using aerobic and anaerobic reactors. A continuous aerobic reactor
was made up of acrylic board with a working volume of 5 liters where an air pump was used for aerobic
zone. On the other hand, a continuous anaerobic reactor was made up of a 4-liter Erlenmeyer flask
equipped with magnetic stirrer and stir bar to facilitate continuous stirring within the reactor.
A simulated wastewater containing glucose as carbon source and ammonium chloride as nitrogen
source was prepared as feed to the reactors. It has an approximate COD concentration of 300 ppm and
NH3-N of 250 ppm. This simulated wastewater was continuously fed to aerobic and anaerobic reactors
separately. COD test, mixed liquor volatile solid (MLVS), temperature and pH were performed regularly
to monitor the time course until steady state condition was reached.
Table 1. Initial and final nitrogen concentrations in aerobic batch reactors.

COD
(ppm)

500
ppm
Aerobi
c
1000
ppm
Aerobi
c
1500
ppm
Aerobi
c
2000
ppm
Aerobi
c
2500
ppm
Aerobi
c

Ammonia
Nitrogen
Initia Fina
l
l
(ppm (pp
)
m)

Nitrite
Nitrogen
Initi Final
al
(ppm
(pp
)
m)

Nitrate
Nitrogen
Initia Final
l
(ppm)
(ppm
)

18.8
9

9.60

0.270
7

8.7934

30.9
1

19.2
0

0.137
4

8.7542

103.1
3

93.8
0

0.172
6

8.7267

137.5
0

120.4
0

0.286
3

8.6954

171.8
6

160.0
0

0.235
4

8.6679

The result,COD concentration

profile in continuous aerobic
COD VS. TIME
reactor was shown in Figure 1
350
while that of continuous
300
250
anaerobic
COD, ppm
200
150
reactor
was
100
shown in Figure
50
0
4. An initial
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
COD of 300
Time, hrs
ppm was fed to
COD VS. TIME
both
reactors
until
steady
350
300
state condition
250
COD, ppm
200
was reached. A
150
100
COD value of
50
0
5.47 ppm as
0 50 100 150 200250 300 350 400 450
shown in Figure
Time, hrs
3 was obtained
and it became constant after 276 hours or approximately 11 days. Preliminary results showed that 98%
reduction in COD was obtained in aerobic reactor as supported by increasing concentration of MLVS. On
the other hand, the COD concentration profile of anaerobic reactor is shown in Figure 2. The same
concentration of feed was introduced in the reactor and the COD value of 194.54 ppm was obtained and
it became constant after 330 hours, that is approximately at steady state condition after 14 days. Only 34
% reduction of COD was obtained. The above data showed that aerobic bacteria have a higher capability
to degrade faster the organic pollutant in wastewater as compared to anaerobic bacteria with the same
hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 5 hours in the two reactors.
From the experimental results obtained, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1 At the same HRT, 98% reduction in COD was obtained in aerobic reactor against 34 %
reduction in anaerobic reactor, therefore, anaerobic bacteria have a slo- wer capability to
degrade organics.
2 Nitrite accumulation and low nitrate build up in aerobic reactor was observed because of the
low activity 380 of NOB maybe due to the presence of inhibitors or uncontrolled pH in the
reactor during nitrification.
3 Aerobic process requires longer aeration time and produces large amount of sludge but they
can remove ammonium nitrogen.
Anaerobic treatment methods usually offer advantages such as higher organic loading rates and
production of usable biogas, however a relatively higher effluent concentration and incapability to
remove ammonium nitrogen are some of its disadvantages
SOURCE : http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JWARP20090500009_37270916.pdf