UTILIZATION OF HIGH-STRENGTH WASTEWATER FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE USING HYBRID UPFLOW ANAEROBIC SLUDGE BLANKET (HUASB) REACTOR

摘要

Anaerobic digestion of distillery spentwash, a high-strength wastewater, was studied using a hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (HUASB) reactor for 240 days under ambient conditions. The HUASB reactor combined an open volume in the bottom two-thirds of the reactor for sludge blanket and polypropylene pall rings packing in the upper one-third of the reactor. The aim of the study was to achieve optimum biogas production and waste treatment. Using non-granular anaerobic sewage sludge as seed, the start-up of the HUASB reactor was successfully completed, with the production of active bacterial granules of 1-2 mm size, within 90 days. Examination of the bacterial granules under scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that Methanothrix like microorganisms were the dominant species besides Methanosarcina.