Anaerobic treatability of synthetic sago wastewater was investigated in a laboratory anaerobic tapered fluidized bed reactor (ATFBR) with a mesoporous granular activated carbon (GAC) as a support material. The experimental protocol was defined to examine the effect of the maximum organic loading rate (OLR), hydraulic retention time (HRT), the efficiency of the reactor and to report on its steady-state performance. The reactor was subjected to a steady-state operation over a range of OLR up to 85.44 kg COD/(m3 x d). The COD removal efficiency was found to be 92% in the reactor while the biogas produced in the digester reached 25.38 m3/(m3 x d) of the reactor. With the increase of OLR from 83.7 kg COD/(m3 x d), the COD removal efficiency decreased. Also an artificial neural network (ANN) model using multilayer perceptron (MLP) has been developed for a system of two input variable and five output dependent variables. For the training of the input-output data, the experimental values obtained have been used. The output parameters predicted have been found to be much closer to the corresponding experimental ones and the model was validated for 30% of the untrained data. The mean square error (MSE) was found to be only 0.0146.

Anaerobic tapered fluidized bed reactor for starch wastewater treatment and modeling using multilayer perceptron neural network.

Sago industry is one of the major small-scale sectors in India and over 800 units are located in the southern State of Tamilnadu. Processing of sago generates enormous quantities of high strength wastewater requiring systematic treatment prior to disposal. The present study is an attempt to treat the sago wastewater using Hybrid Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (HUASB) reactor, which offers the advantages of both fixed film and up flow anaerobic sludge blanket treatment. HUASB reactor with a volume of 5.6 L was operated at Organic Loading Rates varying from 10.7 to 24.7 kg COD/m3.day. After 130 days of startup, the reactor produced appreciable decrease in COD of wastewater and removed solids efficiently. The COD removal varied from 91–87%. While the removal of Total Solids was in the range of 61–57%, that of volatile solids varied from 70–67%. The ideal OLR for the reactor was 23.5 kg COD/m3.day. The findings of the study open up newer possibilities of design low cost and compact onsite treatment systems with very short retention periods.

/pdf/high-rate-anaerobic-treatment-of-sago-wastewater-using-huasb-369wef8nw9.pdf

High rate anaerobic treatment of Sago wastewater using HUASB with PUF as carrier

Sago, tapioca starch, is manufactured by over 800 small-scale units located in the Salem district of the State of Tamilnadu, South India. These units generate large quantities of high-strength wastewater requiring elaborate treatment prior to disposal. The present study is an attempt to treat the sago wastewater using a hybrid reactor, which combines the advantages of both fixed-film and up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket systems. A hybrid reactor with a volume of 5.9 L was operated at organic loading rates varying from 10.4 to 24.6 kg COD/m 3 d. After 120 d of start-up, an appreciable decrease in COD and efficient removal of solids were evident. The COD removal varied from 91 to 83%. While the removal of total solids was in the range of 56 to 63%, that of volatile solids varied from 67 to 72%. The methane production during the study period was in the range of 0.11 to 0.14 L CH4/g COD-d and the percentage was from 55 to 67%. The ideal organic loading rate (OLR) was determined on the basis of tolerance of the reactor towards higher organic loading rate and it was found to be 23.4 kg COD/m 3 d. The findings of the study open new possibilities for the design of low-cost and compact on-site treatment systems

/pdf/treatment-of-sago-wastewater-using-hybrid-anaerobic-reactor-5daxb2mlix.pdf

C Tongkasane

Papers

Anaerobic treatment of tapiocastarch wastewater