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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 1, No 4, 2010
© Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing services
Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402
Anaerobic treatment of sugar industry wastewater by Upflow anaerobic
sludge blanket reactor at ambient temperature
Hampannavar, U.S 1 , Shivayogimath, C.B 2 .
1 Research scholar, Basaveshwar Engineering, College, Bagalkot, Karnataka
2 Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Basaveshwar Engineering, College,
Bagalkot, Karnataka
uday_hamp@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
Sugar industry wastewater was treated in a UASB reactor seeded with nongranular
anaerobicallly digested sewage sludge. The ambient room temperature during the study
period was between 2937 o C. Successful reactor startup with granulation was achieved
within 95 days of operation. The reactor was started with an OLR of 0.5 g COD/L. d. and
was loaded up to 16 g COD/L. d. During startup the HRT was reduced from 488 h. The
optimum HRT was found as 6 h. After the startup the loading was increased at constant HRT
of 6 h by increasing the COD concentration of the feed. A maximum COD removal
efficiency of 89.4% was achieved. The COD removal rate linearly increased with increase in
OLR. The ratio of VFA to alkalinity was varied between 0.190.33 during the treatment.
Maximum volumetric biogas production was 4.66 L/L. d. at OLR of 16 g COD/L. d. The
methane content in the biogas was found to be between 73 and 82% at steady state conditions.
After reaching an OLR of 16 g COD/l. d. the loading was increased by reducing HRT to 4 h.
Reactor performance deteriorated when loading increased to 24 g COD/L. d. It was
concluded that sugar industry wastewater can be treated at maximum loading of 16 g COD/L.
d. at low HRT of 6 at ambient temperature.
Keywords: UASB reactor, sugar industry wastewater, nongranular sludge, ambient

temperature, OLR.
1. Introduction
Rapid urbanization and industrialization in the developing countries like India pose severe
problems in collection, treatment and disposal of effluents. This situation leads to serious
public health problems. Unmanaged organic waste fractions from industries, municipalities
and agricultural sector decompose in the environment resulting in large scale contamination
of land, water and air. These wastes not only represent a threat to the environmental quality
but also possess a potential energy value which is not fully utilized despite the fact that they
are cheap and abundant on most parts of the world. In order to protect the water resources
from onslaught of these wastes, it is necessary to provide adequate treatment to reduce their
pollution potential. For biodegradable impurities, the natural choice is biological treatment,
which could either be aerobic or anaerobic. Anaerobic treatment converts the wastewater
organic pollutants into small amount of sludge and large amount of biogas as source of
energy (Ayati, and Ganjidoust, 2006); whereas aerobic treatment needs external input of
energy for aeration. The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor is by far the most
widely used high rate anaerobic treatment system for variety of wastewater (van Haandel and
Lettinga,1994). The most characteristic device of UASB reactor is the three phase separator
or settler. The presence of the settler on the top of the digestion zone enables the system to
631
maintain a large sludge mass in the UASB reactor, while effluent essentially free of
suspended solids is discharged. There are more than 550 installed sugar industries in the
country (Reports of Indian Sugar Mills Association, 2004). Sugar industries generate about
1000 liters of wastewater for every tonne of sugar cane crushed. Because of high BOD
content, sugar industry wastewater will deplete dissolved oxygen content of water bodies
rendering them unfit for both aquatic life and human uses.
2. Materials and Methods
A laboratoryscale UASB reactor was fabricated from acrylic pipe of 90 mm internal
diameter. The overall height of the reactor was 1300 mm, one inlet at 50 mm from the bottom
of the reactor was provided for the influent. The effluent outlet was provided at 50 mm below
the top level of the reactor. One opening at the top of the reactor was provided for collection
of gas. The three phase separator was designed to meet these requirements, as per the
guidelines given by Lettinga and Hulshoff Pol (1991). The three phase separator was
provided at a distance of 865 mm from the bottom. Baffles are provided to guide gas bubbles
into the separator to collect the gas generated and to allow the settling of suspended solids.
Five sampling ports are provided at a height of 145 mm from the bottom of the reactor at 180
mm c/c. the effective volume of the reactor was 7.95 liters. The effluent tube was connected
to the water seal to avoid the escape of gas through the effluent. The gas out let was
connected to a wet gas meter through rubber tubing. Miclins peristaltic pump (Model: PP 20)
was used for feeding the reactor. Brass checkvalve of ¼ inch size was fixed at the bottom of
the reactor to facilitate the sludge withdrawal. The lid of the reactor and other fittings were
sealed to maintain anaerobic conditions inside the reactor. The reactor was supported by mild
steel framed structure; the schematic representation of this experimental setup is shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1: Experimental setup
632
Anaerobically digested nongranular sludge from septic tank was used as seed for the study.
The sludge was sieved with a mesh of 1 mm to remove large debries and inert impurities of
large size, which may hinder reactor operation (Ghangrekar, 1998). The initial concentration
of the seed was 16.6 g VSS/L. The study was carried out using wastewater from Sugar
Industry situated sixty kilometers from the laboratory. The average characteristics of the
sugar industry wastewater are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Average characteristics of sugar industry wastewater
Particulars Concentration
pH 5.26.5
Colour Reddish yellow
Total suspended solids (mg/L) 760800
Volatile Suspended Solids (mg/L) 1732190
Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) (mg/L) 1540
Phosphorous (mg/L) 1.32.5
COD (mg/L) 10004340
BOD (mg/L) 3502750
The samples were collected from the feed tank and from the outlet provided in the reactor and
were analysed immediately after collection. The flow rate, pH of the influent and effluent;
and quantity of the biogas generated were recorded daily. The parameters such as influent
and effluent COD, VFA, alkalinity and methane content of the biogas were measured once in
every two days. The COD, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), phosphorous concentrations in the
feed were determined once in a week. Total solids (volatile and suspended) and BOD were
measured at steadystate conditions. The performance parameters such as pH, VFA, solids,
alkalinity, COD, BOD, TKN, phosphorous, sulphates, SVI and specific gravity of sludge
were analysed as per procedure detailed in Standard Methods (1995).
3. Results and Discussions
The reactor was started with an initial organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.5 g COD/L.d at a
constant hydraulic retention time of 48 h (Mehrdad Farhadian et al., 2007; Puňal, et al., 2000).
The study was conducted under ambient environmental conditions. The OLR was
increased from 0.5 to 1 g COD/L. d by decreasing the HRT stepwise from 48 hours to 24
hours during initial 35 days of operation. On the day 36 the COD concentration of the
substrate increased to 2000 mg/L at HRT of 24 h resulting in increase of OLR to 2 g COD/L.
d. Then the OLR was increased up to 16 g COD/L. d. by reducing HRT stepwise from 24 to 6
h (Stronach et al., 1987; Ayoob Torkian and Eqbali Hashemian, 2003). The loading pattern
and reduction of HRT during the study period are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3
respectively. The ambient room temperature during most of the period of the study varied
between 29 o C and 37 o C.
633
Figure 2: Loading pattern during study period
VFA and alkalinity together are the good indicators for evaluating the process stability of the
anaerobic reactor since total alkalinity reflect both levels of VFA and bicarbonate, and under
unstable conditions increased VFA reduce bicarbonate resulting in constant total alkalinity
(Wijetunga Somasiri et al., 2006). As reported by Zhao and Viraraghavan (2004) if the ratio
of VFA to alkalinity exceeds 0.8, the inhibition of methanogens occurs and process failure is
apparent, increase above 0.3 to 0.4 indicate system instability and a proper ratio is between
0.1 to 0.2. On contrary, Sánchez et al. (2005) and Malpei et al. (1998) have stated that,
optimum ratio of VFA to alkalinity should be less than 0.3 or 0.4. The variations of VFA and
alkalinity during the study period are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3 : Reduction of HRT during study period
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Figure 4 : VFA and alkalinity during study period
The ratio of VFA to alkalinity was varied between 0.190.33 during the treatment. When the
OLR increased to 24 g COD g COD/L. d. the VFA to alkalinity ratio reached a value of 0.7
indicating, system instability (Zhao and Viraraghavan, 2004); during this period alkalinity
dropped to 1251 mg/L as CaCO3. This can be attributed to the insufficient alkalinity
generated in the reactor.
At the beginning of each increase of the OLR, there was a decrease in the COD removal
efficiency, but the system recovered within 1215 days and adapted to the new conditions.
During entire period of operation after startup when OLR increased from 8 to 16 g COD/L. d.
the COD removal efficiency varied between 80.6 to 89.4% at steady state conditions (Fig.
5). The obtained results agree with published results by Mijaylova Nacheva et al. (2009)
during treatment of cane sugar mill wastewater; by Karnchanawong and Sawangpanyangkura
(2004) during the pretreatment of silkdyeing industrial wastewater and by Ruiz et al. (1998)
during the treatment of domestic wastewater.
Further, OLR was increased to 24 g COD/L. d. on the day 188 by decreasing the HRT to 4 h.
This sudden increase of OLR by 30% has resulted in drastic reduction of COD removal
efficiency to 53.3% (Gali et al., 2005; Nadais et al., 2005; Ayoob and Eqbali, 2003; Atuanya
and Aigbirior, 2002 and Ruiz et al., 1998). Changes to lower HRT values has led to
deterioration of the performance of the reactor and destabilized the process suggesting that
the system had exceeded its maximum organic loading rate leading to system failure
(Verstraete and Vandevivere, 1997).
It is evident from Fig. 6 that the COD removal rate increased linearly to 14.12 g COD/L. d. as
OLR increased from 0.5 to 16 g COD/L. d. During startup under low organic loading rates
(< 8 g COD/L. d.), the COD removal was not uniform (Wolmarans and Villiers, 2002). This
can be attributed to the fact that during this period reactor performance was more dependent
on sludge acclimatization, granulation and HRT.
635
Figure 5: COD removal efficiency
The studies conducted by Wolmarans and Villers (2002) showed that removal efficiencies
rapidly increased during startup studies of UASB reactor on distillery wastewater. The COD
removal efficiency varied between 81 and 89% for OLRs between 8 and 16 g COD/L. d. after
successful startup. Although, the COD removal efficiency varied marginally as the organic
loading increased, the COD removal rate continued to increase. However, at loadings higher
than 16 g COD/L. d. the reactor performance deteriorated due to accumulation of VFA
beyond 850 mg/L as acetate, and a sharp decrease in COD removal efficiency to 53% was
observed.
Figure 6: COD removal rate at different OLRs
During initial 25 days of reactor startup the biogas production was very low. As the time
progressed, granulation of the biomass started and noticeable biogas production and in its
methane content was observed. The volumetric biogas production reached maximum value of
4.66 L/L. d. at OLR 16 g COD/L. d. The methane production rate was also increased linearly
with increase in organic loading and reached maximum value of 3.8 L/L. d. at OLR of 16 g
COD/L. d. (Fig. 6). Shin et al., (2001) have reported that methane production rate increased
linearly with COD loading rates and was maximum of 5.5 L/L. d. at 15.8 g COD/L. d. for
treatment of leachate from acodigenic fermenter in a UASB reactor. The methane content in
the biogas was found to be between 73 and 82% at steady state conditions of each loading
(Figure 7). When OLR was increased from 16 to 24 g COD/L. d. on 188 th day the biogas
636
production decreased from 37.1 to 25.71 L/d. Gao et al., (2007) reported that volumetric
biogas production increased with increasing OLR but afterwards began to decrease due to
deterioration of COD removal efficiency during treatment of distiller’s grains wastewater in
UASB reactor. This sudden decrease in biogas production rate was due to VFA accumulation
beyond 850 mg/L as acetate which inhibited the biomass resulting in lower COD removal.
During this period the methane content of the biogas also decreased from 82 to 63%.
Figure 7: Volumetric biogas production and methane content at different OLRs
4. Conclusions
Startup of an UASB reactor can be achieved within 99 days with anaerobic nongranular
sludge and sugar industry wastewater as substrate. UASB design is feasible to treat sugar
industry wastewater efficiently up to an OLR of 16 g COD/L. d. with a COD removal
efficiency of 89% at much lower HRT of 6 h. Methane rich (more than 75%) biogas can be
produced at the rate of 4.66 L/L. d.
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 1, No 4, 2010

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Keywords: UASB reactor, sugar industry wastewater, nongranular sludge, ambient

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 1: Experimental setup

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Table 1: Average characteristics of sugar industry wastewater

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 2: Loading pattern during study period

Figure 3 : Reduction of HRT during study period

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 4 : VFA and alkalinity during study period

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 5: COD removal efficiency

Figure 6: COD removal rate at different OLRs

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 1, No 4, 2010

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Keywords: UASB reactor, sugar industry wastewater, non­granular sludge, ambient

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 1: Experimental setup

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Table 1: Average characteristics of sugar industry wastewater

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 2: Loading pattern during study period

Figure 3 : Reduction of HRT during study period

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 4 : VFA and alkalinity during study period

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Figure 5: COD removal efficiency

Figure 6: COD removal rate at different OLRs

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Вам также может понравиться

Keywords: UASB reactor, sugar industry wastewater, nongranular sludge, ambient