Enhancing Efficiency of Anaerobic Digestion by Sand Filtration of Effluent

The effluent of an anaerobic digester is rich in terms of solid concentration, particularly the suspended solids [1]. It may be rich in terms of nutrients also depending upon the source from where it has been generated. These solids in the effluent are reflected in terms of high COD. The effluent of the anaerobic digester can be used for irrigation purpose or may be discharged into some receiving water-body or on land. It can be further treated also to enhance its recyclability. In each case, it is desirable that the effluent is of high quality or in other words it is having less solid content. The solid content of the effluent can be reduced either by effluent settling or by effluent filtration. The settling of effluent is also a growing technology yet it is in its primitive stage. The present work has experimentally explored the second option that is the effluent filtration. It is found that the effluent can be effectively filtered to reduce the COD and solid content of itself, thus making the disposal easier. The experimental study has been done for the campus of an engineering college, SSBT’s College of Engineering and Technology, Bambhori, Jalgaon, MS.