RESEARCH ARTICLE

Performance of inverse fluidized bed bioreactor in treating starch wastewater

  • M. RAJASIMMAN ,
  • C. KARTHIKEYAN
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  • Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar- 608002, Tamil Nadu, India

Received date: 16 Dec 2008

Accepted date: 10 Mar 2009

Published date: 05 Sep 2009

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Abstract

Aerobic digestion of starch industry wastewater was carried out in an inverse fluidized bed bioreactor using low-density (870 kg/m3) polypropylene particles. Experiments were carried out at different initial substrate concentrations of 2250, 4475, 6730, and 8910 mg COD/L and for various hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 40, 32, 24, 16, and 8 h. Degradation of organic matter was studied at different organic loading rates (OLR) by varying the HRT and the initial substrate concentration. From the results it was observed that the maximum COD removal of 95.6% occurred at an OLR of 1.35 kg COD/(m3·d) and the minimum of 51.8% at an OLR of 26.73 kg COD/(m3·d). The properties of biomass accumulation on the surface of particles were also studied. It was observed that constant biomass loading was achieved over the entire period of operation.

Cite this article

M. RAJASIMMAN , C. KARTHIKEYAN . Performance of inverse fluidized bed bioreactor in treating starch wastewater[J]. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2009 , 3(3) : 235 -239 . DOI: 10.1007/s11705-009-0020-0

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude for the support extended by the authorities of Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, India in carrying out the research work in Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering.
Nomenclature
Asurface area of particles, m2
σbiofilm thickness, m
dbdiameter of the bioparticle, m
dpdiameter of the particle, m
Hbed height, m
Msmass of the support particles, kg
rpsupport particle radius, m
rbbio particle density, kg/m3
rbwbiofilm density considered as 1000 kg/m3
rpdensity of the particle, kg/m3
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