Performance of a hybrid anaerobic reactor in the treatment of swine wastewater

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a hybrid anaerobic reactor (HAR) in treating swine wastewater (SWW). The reactor was operated under different volumetric organic loading rates (based on working volume), of 0.85, 1.35 and 2.62 kg m -3 day -1 COD. The operation lasted 250 days, with a mean removal efficiency based on the filtered COD of 67%, 81% and 82% respectively for the three applied organic loading rates (OLR). At the end of the experiment, the COD removal profile was evaluated throughout the reactor to obtain the decay coefficients (k), where the first-order model best fit the data. The value for k was estimated at 0.041 h -1 and 0.077 h -1 for a OLR of 1.35 and 2.62 kg m -3 day -1 respectively. The reactor proved to be a good alternative for the anaerobic treatment of swine wastewater. The increase in OLR did not affect the ability of the reactor to remove organic material.