Treatment of spent wash in anaerobic thermophilic
suspended growth reactor (ATSGR)
Rajesh Banu1, S. Kaliappan*2
and Dieter Beck3
1Centre For Environmental Studies, Anna University,
Chennai - 600 025, India
2Centre For Environmental Studies, College of Engineering,
Anna University,
Chennai-600 025, India
3Freiheits Str 195, 42853 Remscheid, Germany
(Received:
January 10 , 2005 ; Revised received: September 5,
2005 ; Accepted: October 17, 2005)
Abstract: Pollution through spent wash is a major
problem in India.
There is an urgent need to develop wastewater treatment technologies for safer
disposal. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to examine a
few aspects of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of
spent wash collected from a distillery. The study was carried out in a 4 liter
laboratory scale anaerobic thermophilic suspended
growth reactor. After the successful
startup, the organic loading was increased stepwise to assess the performance of
the reactor. During the study period, biogas generated was recorded and the
maximum gas generated was found to be 11.9 liter at an organic
loading rate (OLR) of 29 g COD/l. A 500% increase in the volatile fatty acid
(VFA) concentration (1850 mg/l) was observed, when the OLR was increased from
29 to 30g COD/l. During the souring
phase the removal of COD, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) were in
the order of 52%, 40% and 46% respectively. The methane content in the biogas
varied from 65% to 75%.
Key words: Thermophilic
anaerobic digestion, Spent wash, Biogas
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