Performance evaluation of an anaerobic baffled reactor treating wheat flour starch industry wastewater

ABSTRACT

Feasibility of the anaerobic baffled reactor process was investigated for the treatment of wheat flour starch wastewater. After removal of suspended solids by simple gravity settling, starch wastewater was used as a feed. Start-up of a reactor [with a volume of 13.5 L and five compartments] with diluted feed of approximately 4500 mg/L chemical oxygen demand was accomplished in about 9 weeks using seed sludge from anaerobic digester of municipal wastewater treatment plant. The reactor with hydraulic retention time of 72h at 35°C and initial organic loading rate of 1.2 kgCOD/m3.d showed 61% COD removal efficiency. The best performance of reactor was observed with an organic loading rate of 2.5 kgCOD/m3.d or hydraulic retention time of 2.45 d and the COD conversion of 67% was achieved. The system also showed very high solids retention with effluent suspended solids concentration of about 50 mg/L for most organic and hydraulic loadings studied. Based on these observations, the ABR process has potential to treat food industrial wastewater as a pretreatment and is applicable for extreme environmental conditions