Treatment of brewery wastewater by pilot scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor in mesophilic temperature

Abstract

In this study, treatment of brewery wastewater by pilot scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in mesophilic phase was investigated. UASB reactor was achieved with brewery wastewater to an organic loading rate (OLR) of 7 kg COD/m(3)-d at 12 m/d upflow velocity with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3.5 day, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 95% with a methane yield of 0.30 m(3) CH4/kg CODremoved. At an OLR 0.20 kg COD/m(3)-d, sludge concentration was increased and reached even 70000 mg/l at the end of 6 (th) month. At the end of experiment, a granular sludge with good settling properties was produced.