Post-treatment of Distillery Wastewater after UASB using Aerobic Techniques

  • N. Musee Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, South Africa
  • M.A. Trerise Jeffares & Green (Pty) Ltd, P.O. Box 38561, Pinelands, 7430, South Africa
  • L. Lorenzen Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, South Africa

Abstract

The treatment of high-strength wastewater from a distillery using grape-based feedstock was conducted through
sequencing the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and the aerobically-activated sludge reactors. The
performance of the UASB system was evaluated at the end of a period of 33 days in terms of the final chemical
oxygen demand (COD) removal. Final COD removal efficiency of up to 88.7% was achieved. The effect of varying
the volumetric loading rates on COD removal was evaluated for the two experimental runs. For run I (undiluted),
the volumetric loading rates ranged from 4.06 to 18.90 kg COD/m3.day and the maximum COD removal achieved
by the reactor was 57.1%. For experimental run II (diluted), the loading rates ranged between 3.60 to 8.20 kg
COD/m3.day, with the reactor achieving 88.7% COD removal. Post-treatment of the effluent using the aerobicallyactivated
sludge reactor further improved the overall COD removal in run II to 96.5% and also reduced the
phosphorous in the effluent to a final value of approximately 20 mg/L. These experimental results indicate that
sequential treatment of the distillery wastewater using UASB followed by aerobically-activated sludge treatment is
an efficient system that makes the final effluent compliant with the requirements of environmental legislation.

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Published
2016-12-13
Section
Articles