Study on the Bio-kinetic Coefficients of Kitchen Effluent using UASB Reactor

Abstract

The upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was operated at optimum organic loading rate (OLR) of 2.4 kg-COD/m³-day, with hydraulic detention time (HDT) of 10–12 h during the study. It was concluded from the study that the treatment of high-ranged kitchen mill effluent is technically feasible provided that the pH of the system is kept near to neutral. This can be achieved by adding NaHCO₃ to the feed solution. The mean determined values of substrate utilization rate constant (K), limiting substrate (K_s), biomass decay constant (K_d) and yielding coefficient (Y) and maximum substrate constant (µ_max) obtained while operating the UASB reactor at optimum conditions were 0.23 d⁻¹, 6.55 mg/L, 0.057 d⁻¹, 0.35 and 0.08 d⁻¹, respectively. The calculated concentration of effluent substrate, HDT, effluent biomass and biomass yield were found to be 6.81 mg/L, 0.4 h, 277.34 mg/L and 0.34, respectively. Hence, the values of coefficients K, K_s, K_d, Y and µ_max obtained will be used to validate the model and to predict treatment efficiency, and predict organic loading methane productivity of any UASB reactor treating kitchen effluent.