Treatment of spent wash in anaerobic mesophilic
suspended growth reactor (AMSGR)
J. Rajesh Banu1, S. Kaliappan1,
M. Rajkumar2 and Dieter Beck3
1Centre for
Environmental Studies, Anna University, Chennai-600 025, India
2Division of Bioresource
Science, College of Agriculture, Chonbuk National
University, Jeonju-561-756, South Korea
3Freiheits Str 195, 42853 Remscheid, Germany
(Received: 1 March, 2004 ; Accepted: 16 December, 2004)
Abstract : Approximately 400 KL
of spent wash or vinasse
per annum is generated at an average COD concentration of 100,000 mg/l, by over
250 distilleries in India.
There is an urgent need to develop, assess and use ecofriendly
methods for the disposal of this high strength wastewater. Therefore, an
attempt was made to investigate a few aspects of anaerobic digestion of spent
wash collected from a distillery. The study was carried out in a 4 L laboratory
scale anaerobic mesophilic suspended growth
reactor.? After the successful startup,
the organic loading was increased stepwise to assess the performance of the
reactor. During the study period, biogas generated was recorded and the maximum
gas generated was found to be 16.9 L at an Organic Loading Rate (OLR) of 38 g
COD/L. A 500% increase in the Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) concentration (2150
mg/L) was observed, when the OLR was increased from 38 to 39 g COD/L. During
the souring phase the removal of COD, Total Solids (TS) and Volatile Solids
(VS) were in the order of 52%, 40% and 46% respectively. The methane content in
the biogas varied from 65% to 75%.
Key words : Anaerobic digestion, Spent wash,
Biogas.
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