Performance assessment of model hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor HUASBR for treatment of pulp and paper mill wastewater

Abstract

An attempt was made to effectively treat the WW generated from the hardwood/bagasse unit of a reputed Pulp and Paper Mill Board Ltd., near Pallipalayam, Erode District, TN, India; by the appropriately pre-designed Labscale newlineHUASBR, during October, 2012 - April, 2017. A detailed field investigation pertaining to essential aspects, such as pulping operations, ongoing treatment flow-sheet, disposal of various wastes generated, and identification of appropriate sampling location was undertaken prior to preliminary studies. Also, several Lab-experiments were periodically performed on characterizing not only the raw WW from the bagasse unit, but also the inoculum mixture containing rumen-liquid of goat and fresh cow-dung, in the Environmental Engineering Lab. of Civil Engineering Department, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-14 (TN). As per the literature available elsewhere, two similar Labscale HUASB model reactors were properly designed, fabricated, and tested for their air-tightness. Prior to the performance studies, the reactors were appropriately started-up by using the inoculum mixture and/or WW at proper ratios on v/v basis. The entire performances of the model HUASBRs were assessed through step-wise and non step-wise procedures, at three different levels of the reactors. In non step-wise performance studies, the influences of variations in HRT, OLR, seasonal temperature, and type of two different novel packing media - PPSB and PHM; on the respective key performance parameters like variations in COD removal, alkalinity, VFAs, pH, TSS, and cumulative gas production were appropriately understood. newline newline