Effect of Hydraulic Retention Times on the Performance of a Partially Packed Upflow Anaerobic Fixed Film System in the Treatment of Synthetic Rubber Processing Wastewater
Nor Faekah Ismai l1, Fatihah Suja2
1Nor Faekah Ismail, Department of Civil Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
2Fatihah Suja, Centre of Smart and Sustainable Township SUTRA, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 22 April 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 05 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 17 May 2019 | PP: 43-49 | Volume-8 Issue-1S May 2019 | Retrieval Number: A10070581S19/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The aim of this study to investigate the performance of a partially packed up-flow anaerobic fixed film (UAFF) reactor at hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 17, 14, 10, 8 and 5 days. The reactor was fed with high strength synthetic wastewater that had a chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 6550 ± 380 mg/L and organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 1.3 g COD/l/day equivalent to HRT of 17, 14, 10, 8 and 5 days, respectively. The anaerobic degradation parameters such as the COD effluent concentration, COD removal percentage, volatile fatty acids (VFA), alkalinity, pH, biogas composition, biogas volume and ammonia effluent concentration were investigated. Results showed that the total COD removal efficiency of 97 ± 0.2, 96 ± 0.2, 92.5 ± 4.5, 91.5 ± 4.5 and 86 ± 6.5 % at HRT of 17, 14, 10, 8 and 5 days respectively. The UAFF showed stable operation with effluent volatile fatty acid (VFA) less than 400 mg/L and alkalinity within the optimum range of 1000 – 2000 mg/L. The buffering capacity for all HRTs were below the maximum allowable limit of 0.5 with pH variation around 6 – 8 throughout the experimental period. Moreover, the average methane percentage showed a moderately constant profile with the highest methane production obtained was 48.2% at HRT of 5 days and was unaffected by reduced HRT and high ammonia concentration of 208 mg/L. These results show that methane forming bacteria were adapted to its surrounding which was contained high COD at reduced HRTs and did not significantly affect the reactor performance.
Keywords: Anaerobic Digestion, Fixed Film, Hydraulic Retention Time, Packed Column, Methane Production.
Scope of the Article: High Performance Concrete