| Author | Jeganaesan, Jeganathan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-97-21 |
| Subject(s) | Sewage--Purification--Biological treatment
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The efficacy of fluidized bed biofilm reactor for treating starch industry wastewater was investigated at bench scale. Seed sludge was obtained from anaerobic pond treating the starch wastewater. The reactor fabricated and employed in this research was made of a plexi glass column of a diameter 100 mm and height of 2m. The reactor had a volume of 15.7 Land fitted with Gas-Liquid-Solid separator at the top. Activated charcoal with mean diameter of 0.5 mm was used as support media. Investigations were carried out to ascertain the effect of organic loading rate (OLR) on gas production rate and gas productivity. The reactor startup was accomplished about 45 days. Feed wastewater obtained from starch industry was first filtered and then diluted and neutralized. Diluted wastewater with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of about 1,500-3,000 mg/L was used as the feed to the reactor during startup. Initially a high upflow velocity was maintained at 7.0 m/hr to obtain fluidization of support media. As gas production increased, the upflow velocity was gradually reduced to 3.8 m/hr at the end of startup period. As soon as satisfactory COD removal was obtained during startup the feed concentration and OLR were increased in steps. At the end of startup period a gas production rate of 60 Lid was obtained. Beyond startup period of 45 days, the reactor was fed with diluted wastewater having concentration of about 4,000-7,000 mg/L of COD. Undiluted wastewater with COD concentration of about 10,000 mg/L was fed after 71 days at an OLR of 30-70 kgCOD/m3.d. During this operation a recirculation ratio of 2-3: 1 was maintained. The upflow velocity of 2 m/hr was sufficient to maintain the fluidization corresponding to a hydraulic retention time of 1 hr. Results showed that, COD conversion in the range of 70-90% was obtainable with the gas production rate of 60-110 Lid amounting to a gas productivity of 4-7 times of reactor volume. |
| Year | 1997 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Annachhatre, Ajit; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ishibashi, Yoshinobu ;Takizawa, Satoshi; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency (SIDA); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1997 |