Treatment of domestic wastewater by association of up flow anaerobic and aerobic biofilters

Abstract

Laboratory studies were conducted to assess the performance of association of up flow anaerobic & aerobic biofilters in treating domestic wastewater. Two simple models of 8 litres capacity, one up flow anaerobic biofilter (AnBF) packed with support media granite of size 20 mm and another up flow aerobic biofilter(ABF) packed with support media granite of size 10 mm respectively were installed. The experimental anaerobic & aerobic biofilters were made of PVC tubes. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was maintained as 12 hours in anaerobic biofilter and 8 hours in aerobic biofilter. The study was carried out for a period of 90 days. The association of up flow anaerobic & aerobic biofilters demonstrated the average Turbidity, Suspended Solids, BOD and COD removal 96.56%, 96.53%, 95.67% and 90.42% respectively. The waste treatment performance indicates that the association of up flow anaerobic & aerobic biofilters is a promising technique for (sub) tropical countries. Copyright � Enviromedia.