Anaerobic Treatment of Black Water and the Effect of Nitrate on Bioreactor Performance (RALBI)

Abstract

The main challenge that will be faced today is the state of degradation of the environment by discharges or the lack of adequate sanitation for wastewater, which is based on sanitation technologies. Hence the development of anaerobic systems in the treatment of wastewater. In particular, the anaerobic reactor with submerged bacterial bed (RALBI-Upflow) uses biological processes to remove organic matter and nutrients in a single reactor. The experimental system consisted of two units, the first in which one nitrate was injected and the other without nitrate injection with a volume of 4m³. This system was fed with raw sewage (black water). The objective was to evaluate the performance of the two reactors for the reduction of the organic load (COD) and the degree of denitrification by different concentrations of nitrates. The removal efficiencies of organic material expressed in COD was 70,25% and 80,11% at nitrate (RALBI₁), then 42.28% (COD) and 32.02% (nitrate) for RALBI₂ in the treatment of black water.

Keywords: Wastewater, Anaerobic reactor, Upflow, Black water and Treatment