ENHANCING PERFORMANCE IN UPFLOW ANAEROBIC SLUDGE BLANKET BY ANAEROBIC FILTER IMPLEMENTATION

The success of anaerobic process as a treatment technology for high strength, industrial wastewater has meant that the potential of these processes for the treatment of low strength wastewater has been evaluated. The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket UASB reactor is the most widely and successfully used high rate anaerobic system for sewage treatment. The study involved the construction of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket UASB pilot plant including two main reactors one of them R1 was a blank reactor while the other R2 with internal packing material to be installed inside it. The experiment has been performed in order to investigate the effect of installing an internal packing material inside the reactor on its performance. Stage 1 results showed that the UASB reactor R1 achieved COD, BOD5 and TS removal efficiencies of 50%, 43% and 46% respectively. As for the proposed modification by packing material the removal efficiencies were increased by 14%, 21% and 18% for COD, BOD5 and TS respectively. Stage 2 and stage 3 results showed that higher hydraulic retention times values result in high treatment efficiency. Also, the packing media increase the stability of sludge blanket and prevent its escaping from the reactor.