Iranian J Env Health Sci Eng, 2004, Vol.1, No.2, pp.

65-69

Biological Treatment of Dairy Wastewater by Sequencing Batch

Reactor

*A Mohseni-Bandpi 1, H Bazari 2

1
Dept. of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health,
Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
2
Water and Wastewater Co, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran

ABSTRACT
A bench scale aerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) was investigated to treat the wastewater from an
industrial milk factory. The reactor was constructed from plexi glass material and its volume was 22.5 L. The
reactor was supplied with oxygen by fine bubble air diffuser. The reactor was fed with milk factory and
synthetic wastewater under different operational conditions. The COD removal efficiency was achieved more
than 90%, whereas COD concentration varied from 400 to 2500 mg/l. The optimum dissolved oxygen in the
reactor was 2 to 3 mg/l and MLVSS was around 3000 mg/l. Easy operation, low cost and minimal sludge
bulking condition make the SBR system an interesting option for the biological medium strength industrial
wastewater treatment. The study demonstrated the capability of aerobic SBR for COD removal from dairy
industrial wastewater.

Keywords: Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), COD removal, Dairy wastewater

INTRODUCTION ter treatment plants, which makes a reduction of

the reactor volume possible, thus decreasing
Wastewaters from dairy industries are charac- investment costs for the treatment plant (Loo
terised by their high COD content. Most of the and Liao, 1990). In SBR operation, each reactor
dairy industries in Iran use the typical activated in the system has five basic operating modes or
sludge for their effluent treatment. The typical periods. The periods are Fill, React, Settle,
activated sludge treatment is characterised by Draw and Idle.
the relatively high energy consumption and bio- SBR technology has gained more and more im-
mass production, leading to a relatively high portance in wastewater treatment plants
operation costs and problem with the disposal (Schiegl et al., 1996; Franta et al., 1997). The
of large amounts of sludge. Biological proc- main advantages are easy operation, low cost,
esses based upon Suspended Sequencing Batch handling hydraulic fluctuation, no need for
Reactor (SBR) are effective for organic carbon settling tank and sludge recycling as well as
removal in domestic and industrial wastewater. organic load without any significant variation in
SBR is often operated with higher TS concen- removal efficiency (Kolb and Wildere, 1997;
trations compared with conventional wastewa- Keudel and Dichtl, 2000).
This study was conducted to determine the
*Corresponding author: E-mail: amohseni@iaeh.org
Tel: +98 21 33121093, Fax: +98 21 33135778 treatability of dairy wastewater by SBR and to

65
 A Mohseni-Bandpi and H Bazari l: Biological Treatment

evaluate the effect of oxygen and MLSS different aeration times to evaluate oxygen ef-
concentrations on COD removal efficiency. fect on the removal efficiency and settling of
sludge.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Fig. 1 shows the effect of aeration time on COD
removal, based on which, the optimum aeration
A bench scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) time was 6 hrs. As shown in Fig. 1, COD re-
was fed by wastewater from milk factory. The moval efficiency increased with rising aeration
reactor was constructed from plexi glass with a time up to 6 hrs. No significant COD removal
volume of 22.5 L. The reactor was supplied efficiency was observed when aeration was ap-
with oxygen by fine bubble air diffuser. In the plied more than 6 hrs.
first phase, the reactor was operated with total Fig. 2 illustrates the sludge settling under
cycle time of 7 hrs. The second phase of the different dissolved oxygen concentrations.
experiments was run under different dissolved From this Figure, the optimum dissolved oxy-
oxygen concentrations of 3, 5, 6.5, and 7.5 gen concentration for best sludge settling was 3
mg/L. In the third phase the reactor was con- mg/L. Increasing dissolved oxygen more than 3
ducted at different COD concentrations of mg/L resulted poor sludge settling conditions.
1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 mg/L. All analyses Fig. 3 shows the effect of different MLSS
were performed according to the procedures concentrations on the COD removal efficiency.
outlined in Standard Methods (APHA, AWWA, Apparently, no significant COD removal effi-
WEF, 1995). ciency was achieved with the increase of MLSS
concentrations. The MLSS concentrations of
RESULTS the SBR reactor varied from 3000 to 9000 mg/L
during the study.
In order to determine the COD removal effi- In the third phase the flexibility of the reactor to
ciency by SBR, the reactor was operated at 8 high COD concentration was evaluated. The
hrs cycle time and influent COD varied from reactor was operated under different COD con-
410 to 480 mg/L. The performance of reactor in centrations in the range of 1000 to 2500 mg/L,
this phase under these conditions is shown in whereas dissolved oxygen, time of aeration and
Table 1 which demonstrates that, more than MLSS were kept constant and equal to 2-3
90% COD removal efficiency was achieved in mg/L, 6 hrs and 3000 mg/L, respectively. The
the reactor with mean influent and effluent results of this phase are shown in Fig. 4. It
COD concentrations of 445 and 42 mg/L, shows that the COD removal efficiency
respectively. achieved was 80 to 90% for influent COD con-
In the second phase, the reactor was operated at centration of 2500 and 1000 mg/L, respectively.

Table 1: Performance of reactor in first phase

Parameters Range of concentration Mean of concentration Number of observations
Influent COD (mg/L) 410-480 445 15
Influent BOD (mg/L) 336-394 365 8
MLSS (mg/L) 2950-3200 3050 12
MLVSS (mg/L) 2655-2880 2745 12
Effluent COD (mg/L) 38-46 42 15
COD removal (%) 90-92 91 15

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 Iranian J Env Health Sci Eng, 2004, Vol.1, No.2, pp.65-69

100
90
80
COD removal (%) 70 Fig. 1: The effect of aeration time on the COD removal efficiency
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 10 11
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time of aeration (hr)

Fig. 1: The effect of aeration time on the COD removal efficiency

100
3 mg/l DO
90 5 mg/l DO
6.5 mg/l DO
Sludge settled in 100 ml MLSS

7.5 mg/l DO
80

70

60

50

40

30
0 5 10 20 30
Time (min)

Fig. 2: Sludge settlability versus different times under different concentrations of dissolved oxygen

100

90
COD removal efficiency (%)

80 3000 mg/l MLSS

6000 mg/l MLSS
70 9000 mg/l MLSS

60

50

40

30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time of aeration (hr)

Fig. 3: COD removal versus different aeration time under different concentrations of MLSS

67
 A Mohseni-Bandpi and H Bazari: Biological Treatment

100

90

80
COD removal %

70

COD= 1000mg/l
60
COD=1500mg/l
50
COD=2000mg/l

40 COD= 2500mg/l

30

20

10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Time of aeration (hr)

Fig. 4: Performance of the reactor under different COD concentrations

COD removal from dairy wastewater (Garrido

DISCUSSION et al., 2000) indicated that, COD removal effi-
ciency was achieved between 80 to 90%, simi-
The results of aerobic bench scale SBR con- lar to our study with an influent COD
firmed the capability of the reactor for dairy concentration between 1000 and 7000 mg/l.
wastewater treatment. It showed to be an effi- The laboratory scale SBR has been operating
cient biological process, producing low COD from October 1997 to April 1999 with influent
effluent under optimum aeration and cycle con- average COD concentration about 6500 mg/l
figurations. (Flapper et al., 2000). Average COD removal
From the results obtained, it was evident that was achieved 70% in this study. The best
the SBR was a suitable alternative for industrial satiability sludge was obtained in 3 mg/L dis-
wastewater treatment. The highest COD re- solved oxygen conditions. No bulking sludge
moval efficiency was more than (90%) and the was observed under concentration of dissolved
best sludge settling properties for the milk fac- oxygen kept between 2 to 3 mg/L. Increasing
tory wastewater were obtained at high sludge dissolved oxygen in the reactor may cause
age (20 days) and aerated period of 6 hrs, show- eliminated biological floc and result distur-
ing a good concordance with the results pre- bance settling sludge in the settling phase and
sented by the study of Flapper and Ashbolt high turbidity in effluent. The settling of sludge
(1999). Application of SBR technology re- is one of the main parameters which should be
vealed that, COD removal efficiency of 95% is studied for the dimensioning of sequencing
obtainable with influent COD concentration of batch reactors. Hydraulic dimensioning results
about 2000 mg/L. The SBR configuration has in the number of reactors, the cycle time for
been found to be an appropriate technology for biological reaction, as well as the settling proc-
treating this type of wastewater. The study of ess influence and the achievable concentration

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 Iranian J Env Health Sci Eng, 2004, Vol.1, No.2, pp.65-69

of MLSS in the effluent (Keudel and Dichtl, sequencing batch reactor technology to
2000). reduce residual organic. Wat Sci Tech, 35
As shown in Fig 3, the elimination of COD in- (3): 129-133.
creases with the time of aeration up to 6 hrs. Garrido J M, Omil F, Arrojo B, Mendez R,
More than 90% COD removal efficiency was Lema J M (2000). Carbon and nitrogen re-
achieved in the reactor with influent COD con- moval from the wastewater of an industrial
centration ranging from 410- 480 mg/L. dairy laboratory with a coupled anaerobic
The results from this study proved the SBR filter Sequencing Batch Reactor system. Pro-
flexibility and excellent performance for treat- ceedings of the 2nd International symposium
ing domestic and easily biodegradable on Sequencing Batch Reactor Technology,
wastewater such as dairy wastewater. pp 243-250.
Keudel L O, Dichtl N J (2000). Settling
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