Treatment of decentralized molasses wastewater using anaerobic baffled reactor

AbstractThe anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) was used to remove carbonaceous organic pollutants from decentralized molasses wastewater in the study. The anaerobic chambers were inoculated with anaerobic granule sludge. The ABR was studied regarding the hydraulic retention time, the pH, and gas production velocity. After the ABR was seeded with sludge, the organic loading rate was increased gradually from 1.5 to 3.6 kg/m3 d. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was about 90% and it was attributed to the high resistance of COD and hydraulic shock loads. The COD removal efficiency and the gas production velocity of the first chamber were the highest compared with other chambers. In addition, the volatile suspended solids to total suspended solids ratio of the first chamber was maximum.