scholarly journals Modification of UASB reactor by using CFD simulations for enhanced treatment of municipal sewage

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 766-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suprotim Das ◽  
Supriya Sarkar ◽  
Sanjeev Chaudhari

Abstract Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) has been in use since last few decades for the treatment of organic wastewaters. However, the performance of UASB reactor is quite low for treatment of low strength wastewaters (LSWs) due to less biogas production leading to poor mixing. In the present research work, a modification was done in the design of UASB to improve mixing of reactor liquid which is important to enhance the reactor performance. The modified UASB (MUASB) reactor was designed by providing a slanted baffle along the height of the reactor having an angle of 5.7° with the vertical wall. A two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of three phase gas-liquid-solid flow in MUASB reactor was performed and compared with conventional UASB reactor. The CFD study indicated better mixing in terms of vorticity magnitude in MUASB reactor as compared to conventional UASB, which was reflected in the reactor performance. The performance of MUASB was compared with conventional UASB reactor for the onsite treatment of domestic sewage as LSW. Around 16% higher total chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency was observed in MUASB reactor as compared to conventional UASB during this study. Therefore, this MUASB model demonstrates a qualitative relationship between mixing and performance during the treatment of LSW. From the study, it seems that MUASB holds promise for field applications.

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 1383-1389 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Nakazawa ◽  
W. R. S. Silva Júnior ◽  
M. T. Kato ◽  
S. Gavazza ◽  
L. Florencio

In this study, we evaluated the use of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor to treat crude glycerol obtained from cottonseed biodiesel production. The laboratory-scale UASB reactor (7.0 L) was operated at ambient temperature of 26.5°C with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations between 0.5 and 8.0 g/L. The volatile fatty acid contents, pH, inorganic salt contents and biogas production were monitored during a 280-day experimental period. Molecular biology techniques were used to assess the microbial diversity in the bioreactor. The reactor achieved COD removal efficiencies of up to 92% except during one phase when the efficiency decreased to 81%. Biogas production remained stable throughout the experimental period, when the fraction converted to methane reached values as high as 68%. The profile of the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) bands suggested slight changes in the microbial community during reactor operation. The overall results indicated that the crude glycerol from biodiesel production can serve as a suitable substrate for anaerobic degradation with a stable reactor performance and biogas production as long as the applied organic loads are up to 8.06 kg COD/m3·d.


2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 2265-2272 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Satyanarayan ◽  
A. Karambe ◽  
A. P. Vanerkar

Herbal pharmaceutical industry has grown tremendously in the last few decades. As such, literature on the treatment of this wastewater is scarce. Water pollution control problems in the developing countries need to be solved through application of cost effective aerobic/anaerobic biological systems. One such system—the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process which is known to be cost effective and where by-product recovery was also feasible was applied for treatment of a high strength wastewater for a period of six months in a pilot scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with a capacity of 27.44 m3. Studies were carried out at various organic loading rates varying between 6.26 and 10.33 kg COD/m3/day and hydraulic retention time (HRT) fluctuating between 33 and 43 hours. This resulted in chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS) removal in the range of 86.2%–91.6%, 90.0%–95.2% and 62.6%–68.0% respectively. The biogas production varied between 0.32–0.47 m3/kg COD added. Sludge from different heights of UASB reactor was collected and subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated good granulation with efficient UASB reactor performance.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
Fiza Sarwar ◽  
Wajeeha Malik ◽  
Muhammad Salman Ahmed ◽  
Harja Shahid

Abstract: This study was designed using actual effluent from the sugary mills in an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) Reactor to evaluate treatability performance. The reactor was started-up in step-wise loading rates beginning from 0.05kg carbon oxygen demand (COD)/m3-day to 3.50kg-COD/m3-day. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was slowly decreased from 96 hrs to eight hrs. It was observed that the removal efficiency of COD of more than 73% can be easily achieved at an HRT of more than 16 hours corresponding to an average organic loading rate (OLR) of 3.0kg-COD/m3-day, at neutral pH and constant temperature of 29°C. The average VFAs (volatile fatty acids) and biogas production was observed as 560mg/L and 1.6L/g-CODrem-d, respectively. The average methane composition was estimated as 62%. The results of this study suggest that the treatment of sugar mills effluent with the anaerobic technology seems to be more reliable, effective and economical.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v9i0.7075 Hydro Nepal Vol.9 July 2011 57-62


2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Paulo ◽  
B. Jiang ◽  
S. Rebac ◽  
L. Hulshoff Pol ◽  
G. Lettinga

A 5.1 L laboratory scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was operated at 55°C over 130 days in order to investigate the feasibility of treating methanol-containing wastewater under thermophilic conditions, focussing on start-up and process stability. Batch assays were conducted to elucidate the most probable pathway for methanol conversion. The results demonstrated a good performance, with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal averaging 82% throughout the experiment. No significant VFA accumulation was detected in the effluent, even with bicarbonate concentration exceeding 20 mM. Acetate was the main component of the VFA at relatively low organic loading rates (OLR). At high OLR, the main components were propionate and butyrate. Reactor performance was hardly affected when the system was exposed to non-optimal conditions, i.e., temperature drop, overloading and no feeding. Good thermophilic granular sludge was retained in the reactor. Washout of biomass was not severe during the experiment. From the pathway analysis it could be concluded that indirect pathways play an important role in the methanol degradation by the cultivated consortia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1702-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Robertson ◽  
T. J. Britz ◽  
G. O. Sigge

Two 2 L laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were operated for 277 days. The substrate of the control reactor (Rc) contained grain distillery wastewater (GDWW) that had undergone coagulant pre-treatment, and the substrate of the second UASB reactor consisted of GDWW that had undergone coagulant pre-treatment and ozone pre-treatment (Ro). Both reactors treated pre-treated GDWW successfully at ca. 9 kgCOD m−3 d−1. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) reductions of ca. 96% for Rc and 93% for Ro were achieved. Fats, oils and grease (FOG) reductions (%) showed variations throughout the study, and reductions of ca. 88 and 92% were achieved for Rc and Ro, respectively. Rc produced more biogas, and the methane percentage was similar in both reactors. UASB granule washout in Rc suggested possible toxicity of unsaturated fatty acids present in non-ozonated substrate. The feasibility of FOG removal was demonstrated as both reactors successfully treated pre-treated GDWW. Better results were obtained for Ro effluent during post-ozonation. The ozone pre-treatment possibly led to easier degradable wastewater, and better results could potentially be obtained when other post-treatment steps are applied. Ozone pre-treatment did not, however, show an added benefit in the reactor performance results.


1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 509-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huub J. Gijzen ◽  
Frank Kansiime

The start-up and performance of an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor and a Polyurethane Carrier Reactor (PCR) was investigated under similar operational conditions. The presence of polyurethane cubes as a carrier material in the PCR resulted in fast reactor start-up due to quick immobilization of methanogenic associations. Start-up of the UASB was slower compared to the PCR, which was mainly reflected in a lower biogas production and acetate degradation efficiency. However, when enough biomass had accumulated in the UASB reactor after 15 weeks of operation, the performance of the two reactors was almost the same in terms of biogas production and volatile fatty acids degradation. Efficient VFA degradation (about 90%) and biogas production (5.2 l/l.d) were achieved at an organic loading rate of 13.2 g/l.d) and HRT of 6 h. When hydraulic retention time was subsequently reduced from 6 to 2 h, the performance of the UASB reactor was better than that of the PCR. The inferior performance of the PCR may have been attributed to channelling of the influent in the reactor at high liquid flow rate.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajinikanth Rajagopal ◽  
Mahbuboor Choudhury ◽  
Nawrin Anwar ◽  
Bernard Goyette ◽  
Md. Rahaman

The up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process has emerged as a promising high-rate anaerobic digestion technology for the treatment of low- to high-strength soluble and complex wastewaters. Sewage, a complex wastewater, contains 30–70% particulate chemical oxygen demand (CODP). These particulate organics degrade at a slower rate than the soluble organics found in sewage. Accumulation of non-degraded suspended solids can lead to a reduction of active biomass in the reactor and hence a deterioration in its performance in terms of acid accumulation and poor biogas production. Hydrolysis of the CODP in sewage prior to UASB reactor will ensure an increased organic loading rate and better UASB performance. While single-stage UASB reactors have been studied extensively, the two-phase full-scale treatment approach (i.e., a hydrolysis unit followed by an UASB reactor) has still not yet been commercialized worldwide. The concept of treating sewage containing particulate organics via a two-phase approach involves first hydrolyzing and acidifying the volatile suspended solids without losing carbon (as methane) in the first reactor and then treating the soluble sewage in the UASB reactor. This work reviews the available literature to outline critical findings related to the treatment of sewage with and without hydrolysis before the UASB reactor.


2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 1841-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Leitão ◽  
A. M. Araújo ◽  
M. A. Freitas-Neto ◽  
M. F. Rosa ◽  
S. T. Santaella

The market for coconut water causes environmental problems as it is one of the major agro-industrial solid wastes in some developing countries. With the aim of reusing the coconut husk, Embrapa developed a system for processing this raw material. During the dewatering stage Coconut Husk Liquor (CHL) is generated with chemical oxygen demand (COD) varying from 60 to 70 g/L due to high concentrations of sugars and tannins. The present study evaluated the feasibility of anaerobic treatment of CHL through Anaerobic Toxicity Assay and the operation of a lab-scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor. Results showed that CHL can be treated through a UASB reactor operating with an OLR that reaches up to 10 kg/m3·d and that is maintained stable during the whole operation. With this operational condition, the removal efficiency was higher than 80% for COD and approximately 78% for total tannins, and biogas production was 20 m3 of biogas or 130 KWh per m3 of CHL. Seventy-five percent of the biogas composition was methane and toxicity tests demonstrated that CHL was not toxic to the methanogenic consortia. Conversely, increasing the concentration of CHL leads to increased methanogenic activity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 2562-2569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orkun I. Davutluoglu ◽  
Galip Seckin

The anaerobic degradation of terephthalic acid (TA) as the sole organic carbon source was studied in an upflow anaerobic filter (UAF) reactor. The reactor was seeded with biomass obtained from a full-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor and was used to treat wastewater from a petrochemical facility producing dimethyl terephthalate. The UAF reactor was operated for 252 d with a constant hydraulic retention time of 24 h, and the organic loading rate (OLR) was gradually increased from 1 to 10 g-chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L d. After a lag period of approximately 40 d, the COD removal efficiency increased exponentially and high removal rate values (≈90%) were obtained, except for at highest OLR (10 g-COD/L d). The high removal rates and the robustness of the reactor performance could be attributed to the formation of biofilm as well as granular sludge. The methane production rates (0.22 to 2.15 L/d) correlated well with the removed OLRs (0.3 to 6.8 g-COD/L d) during the various phases of treatment, indicating that the main mechanism of TA degradation occurs via methanogenic reactions. The average methane content of the produced biogas was 70.3%. The modified Stover–Kincannon model was found to be applicable for the anaerobic degradation of TA in UAFs (Umax = 64.5, KB = 69.1 g-COD/L d and Ymax = 0.27 L-CH4/g-CODremoved). These results suggest that UAF reactors are among the most effective reactor configurations for the anaerobic degradation of TA.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rina S. Soetopo ◽  
Sri Purwati ◽  
Henggar Hardiani ◽  
Mukharomah Nur Aini ◽  
Krisna Adhitya Wardhana

A continuous pilot scale study has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of anaerobic digestion of biological sludge. The sludge has a total solid content of 0.53% - 1.1%, pH of 7.20 to 7.32. Its organic content is about 97 %, The research were conducted in two stages, which are acidification (performed in 3 m3 the Continously Stirred Tank Reactor/CSTR at pH of 5.5 to 6.0) and methanation (performed in 5 m3 the Up Flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket/UASB reactor at pH 6.5 to 7.0). The retention time (RT) was gradually shortened from 6 days to 1 day for acidification and from 8 days to 2 days for methanation. The results showed that operating the CSTR at the RT of 1 day and the organic loading of 8.23 g Volatile Solid (VS)/m3.day could produce Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) at an average value of 17.3 g/kg VS.day. Operating the UASB reactor at the RT of 2 days and the organic loading (Chemical Oxygen Demand/COD) of 2.4 kg COD/m3.day could produce biogas at an average value of 66.3 L/day, with an average methane content of 69.9%, methane rate of 0.17 L CH4/g COD reduction or 19.06 L CH4/kg VS. Furthermore, methanation could reduce COD at an average value of 51.2 %, resulting in the effluent average value of COD filtrate and COD total of 210.1 mg/L and 375.2 mg /L, respectively.Keywords: acidification, methanation, CSTR, UASB, biogas ABSTRAKPercobaan digestasi anaerobik lumpur IPAL biologi industri kertas secara kontinyu skala pilot telah dilakukan di industri kertas dengan tujuan mengkaji efektivitas proses digestasi anaerobik dalam mengolah lumpur tersebut. Lumpur yang digunakan memiliki total solids sekitar 0,53% – 1,1%, pH netral (7,20 – 7,32) dengan komponen utama senyawa organik sekitar 97%. Percobaan dilakukan dalam dua tahap yaitu asidifikasi dalam reaktor CSTR berkapasitas 3 m3 pada pH 5,5 – 6,0 dan metanasi dalam reaktor UASB berkapasitas 5 m3 pada pH 6,5 – 7,0. Percobaan dilakukan dengan waktu retensi yang dipersingkat secara bertahap dari 6 hari ke 1 hari untuk proses asidifikasi dan dari 8 hari ke 2 hari untuk proses metanasi. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan bahwa pengoperasian reaktor CSTR dengan waktu retensi 1 hari dan beban organik 8,3 g VS/m3.hari dapat menghasilkan VFA rata-rata 17,3 g/kg VS.hari dengan kisaran 8,36 – 30,59 g/kg VS.hari, sedangkan pengoperasian reaktor UASB pada waktu retensi 2 hari dan beban organik 2,4 kg COD/m3.hari dapat menghasilkan biogas rata-rata 66,3 L/hari dengan kadar metana rata-rata 69,9% atau 0,17 L CH4/g COD reduksi atau 19,06 L CH4/kg VS. Selain itu proses metanasi dapat menurunkan COD terlarut rata-rata 51,2%, dengan konsentrasi efluen COD terlarut  rata-rata 210,1 mg/L dan COD total rata-rata 375,2 mg/L.Kata kunci: asidifikasi, metanasi, CSTR, UASB, biogas


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