Investigation on the Treatment of Slaughterhouse Wastewater in a Sequential Batch Reactor

In the present study, the treatment of slaughterhouse wastewater was carried out in a sequential batch reactor. A lab-scale column type reactor was fabricated with Perspex material having dimensions of 10 cm diameter, 100 cm height, and an effective volume of 7 liters provided with ports at different levels. The reactor performance was evaluated in terms of COD, BOD, TSS, TKN, and phosphorus removal. The reactor was operated for 432 days; the effectiveness of the reactor is the temperature of wastewater in the reactor. The removal efficiencies of COD and BOD were84% and 80% in the reactor. The maximum TSS removal was around 87% and TKN’s maximum removal efficiency was 61% in aerobic treatment. Phosphorus maximum removal efficiency was around 68%, in the meantime pH and alkalinity were also monitored, and no change in the pH was reported throughout the experiment. On the other hand, an aerobic SBR is also operated using wastewater after the DAF unit. In the same manner, the reactor was operated with initially diluted wastewater (05 times) and kept HRT 8 h. The reactor performance was studied in terms of COD, BOD, TSS, TKN, and phosphorus. The maximum removal efficiencies of COD and BOD were 80% and 81% respectively. The maximum removal efficiencies of TSS, TKN, and Phosphorus were 73%, 81%, and 69% respectively. It is concluded that the removal efficiency of COD was better in the anaerobic process as compared with the aerobic process in addition the generation of methane gas during the degradation of organic matter can be used for operating the aerobic unit by making some necessary arrangements. Besides this, it is also concluded that the removal efficiency of TKN was better in the aerobic process as compared with the anaerobic process. There was a buildup of VSS from 4500 mg.L-1 to 6500 mg.L-1 in the study.