Coconut Processing Wastewater Treatment Using Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor

Abstract

Coconut industry, the second largest agricultural export product in Sri Lanka, is a major contributor to the pollution of environment. But the treatment of coconut processing wastewater is a less studied area. The objective of the present study is to investigate the performance of the Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (AnSBR) for the treatment of the coconut processing wastewater. The AnSBR performance was assessed by measuring Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Mixed Liquor Volatile Suspended Solids (MLVSS). The experimental results demonstrated that COD loading rate, Food to Microorganism Ratio (F/M) play a significant role in the organic removal efficiency of AnSBR system. Further investigation on these parameters was conducted using batch experiments. For medium strength coconut processing wastewater COD (64-65%), BOD (80-81%) and TSS (89-90%) removal efficiencies were achieved at COD loading rate of 3.4 to 4.2 kg/m3/day, F/M ratio 1.2 to 1.4 kg COD/kg MLVSS day and phi range from 6.6 to 7.6.