A detailed analysis of removal efficiencies pilot-scale UASB Reactor

1. Treatment of Municipal Wastewater of Tripura
by batch scale UASB
National Institute of Technology Agartala
By Hariom Gupta
Under the guidance of Dr. Swaroop Biswas

2. Table of Contents:
1. Objective
2. Introduction
3. Literature Review
4. Materials and Methods
5. Results and Discussions
6. Conclusions and Scope
for future work
7. References
Fig 1:Wastewater collection

3. 1. Objective
• Design of Bench-scale UASB Reactor
• To find the removal efficiency of UASB Reactor for the
treatment of municipal wastewater of Tripura
• Analysis of COD, BOD, DO and TDS of wastewater using
UASB Reactor

4. 2. Introduction
• Continuous growth of human population has made a strong demand in reuse of
wastewater as a way of industrial and municipal water supply
• Domestic wastewater effluent has always been a good source for reclamation,
because of its continuous source for such applications
• Anaerobic treatment is a good choice of water treatment because it doesn't require
oxygen which resulting no energy requirement and in turn it releases energy in the
form of biogas (Methane: CH4)

5. Typical composition of
untreated domesticated
water consists of various
contaminants
 2. Introduction
Table 1: Composition of untreated water

6.  Temperature
 PH
 Dissolved Oxygen
 Salinity
 Electrical Conductivity
 Turbidity
 Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand(BOD)
 Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate
 Phosphorus
 Heavy Metals
 Pathogens
Parameters for Water Quality
 2. Introduction

7. Advantages of anaerobic system over aerobic process:
• Less energy requirement as no aeration is needed.
• Energy generation in the form of methane gas.
• Less biomass (sludge) generation.
2. Introduction

8. 3. Literature Review
• Wastewater is any water that has been adversely harmful for any living being
• It is classified as : Industrial and Municipal
• Municipal wastewater is mainly comprised of water (99.9%) together with relatively
small concentrations of suspended and dissolved organic (carbohydrates, lignin, fats,
soaps, synthetic detergents, proteins) and inorganic solids.
• Wastewater contains mainly four groups of pathogens potentially present in such
wastes: bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths (Feachem et al., 1983; Rose, 1986
and Shuval et al., 1986).
• Wastewater also contains many pathogenic organisms which generally originate from
humans who are infected with disease or who are carriers of a particular disease
(CPCB 2001).

9. 3. Literature Review
Physical Unit processes: Screening, sedimentation, filtration
Chemical Unit processes: Chemical precipitation, adsorption, disinfection
Biological Unit processes: Activated sludge process, aerated lagoons, stabilization pond,
anaerobic digestion, UASB process
Wastewater treatment methods

10. Physical process for
municipal wastewater
treatment
3. Literature Review

11. 3. Literature Review
Chemical process for
wastewater treatment

12. 3. Literature Review
Biological process for
wastewater treatment

13. 3. Literature Review
Applications of UASB in India:
More than 900 UASB units
operate all over the world of
which nearly 35 exist in India
Bilateral cooperation
between India and
Netherlands led to the
construction of first
successful UASB reactor for
domestic sewage at Kanpur
Table 5: UASB treatment plants in India

14. 4. Materials and Methods Work plan: An overview
Phase 1: Design and construction of bench scale UASB reactor
Phase 2: Collection of effluent sample and analysis of sample for COD, BOD, DO and TDS

15. 4. Materials and Methods
• Height of UASB = 2 ft
• Length of UASB = 0.5 ft
• Width of UASB = 0.5 ft
• Volume of reactor =
14.158 L
• Flow rate = Volume/HRT
• Organic loading rate =
Flow rate * COD conc/
Volume
• Area of UASB = Volume
/Height
Table 6: Recommended loading range for design of UASB reactor (Prashant 2003)
UASB reactor parameters

16. 4. Materials and Methods
• Schematic of UASB
Fig 2: UASB schematic

17. Sampling ports
Peristaltic pump
Outlet
Inlet
Biogas collector
• Transparent glass sheet of 7 mm
assembled into 2*0.5*0.5 ft3
• Flat bottom with inlet pipe of
dia 1.5 cm.
• 6 ports for feeding, sample
collection, outlet, gas collection
• Operating conditions: 30 days at
an HRT of 8 hr with a flow rate
of 1.769 L/h and upflow velocity
of 0.09m/h
• Wastewater sample: Sewage
water from drains in Aryabhatta
4. Materials and Methods

18. 5. Results and discussions
Dissolved Oxygen
Fig 3: Dissolved oxygen vs time

19. 5. Results and discussions
Chemical Oxygen Demand
Fig 3: Chemical oxygen demand vs time

20. 5. Results and discussions
Biological Oxygen Demand
Fig 3: Biological oxygen demand vs time

21. 5. Results and discussions
Total Dissolved Solids
Fig 3: Total dissolved solids vs time

22. 8. Conclusions and Scope for future work
An analysis of the varying parameters such as COD, BOD, TDS and DO has been made.
Efforts have been made to analyse the efficiency of utilising and UASB reactor for the
removal of these components.
• A net removal of approximately 50% of Dissolved Oxygen
• A net removal of 73 % of COD is observed
• A net removal of 33.5% of TDS is observed
• A net removal of 72.3% of BOD is observed
As of now there is a rising need for water purification in Tripura and as of now no
commercial exploitation of this technology has been done. The efficiency values indicate
that this technology can prove fruitful in wastewater decontamination. Coupled with
various post treatment techniques, the efficiencies may further be improved upon.

23. 1. Rose, J.B. 1986. Microbial
aspects of wastewater reuse for
irrigation. CRC Critical reviews
in Environmental Control 16(3),
231-256.
2. Shuval, H.I., Adin, A., Fattal, B.,
Rawitz, E. and Yekutiel, P.
1986a. Wastewater irrigation in
developing countries.Technical
Paper Number 51. World Bank,
Washington DC. 324.
3. Lettinga, G. and Hulshoff, P.L.W.,
1986. Advanced reactor design,
operation and economy, Water
Science and Technology. 19,
99–108.
 9. References