Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 135143

Anaerobic ponds treatment of starch wastewater: case study in Thailand

B.K. Rajbhandari, A.P. Annachhatre
*
Environmental Engineering and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand Received in revised form 20 January 2004; accepted 26 January 2004 Available online 12 March 2004

Abstract Anaerobic ponds are particularly eective in treating high-strength wastewater containing biodegradable solids as they achieve the dual purpose of particulate settlement and organic removal. Performance of an anaerobic pond system for treatment of starch wastewater containing high organic carbon, biodegradable starch particulate matter and cyanide was assessed under tropical climate conditions. Approximately 5000 m3 /d of wastewater from starch industry was treated in a series of anaerobic ponds with a total area of 7.39 ha followed by facultative ponds with an area of 29.11 ha. Overall COD and TSS removal of over 90% and CN removal of 51% was observed. Active biomass obtained from the anaerobic ponds sediments and bulk liquid layer exhibited specic methanogenic activity of 20.7 and 11.3 ml CH4 /g VSS d, respectively. The cyanide degradability of sludge at initial cyanide concentration of 10 and 20 mg/l were determined to be 0.43 and 0.84 mg CN /g VSS d, respectively. A separate settling column experiment with starch wastewater revealed that a settling time of approximately 120 min is sucient to remove 9095% of the inuent TSS. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Anaerobic pond; Cyanide degradability; Organic carbon; Settling characteristics; Specic methanogenic activity; Starch factory wastewater

1. Introduction Anaerobic ponds (APs) are popularly employed for treatment of organic wastewater emanating from variety of industries such as food, pulp and paper, sugar and distillery. Anaerobic ponds are particularly eective in treating high-strength wastewaters containing biodegradable total suspended solids (TSS). In such cases the liquid layer in anaerobic ponds act as a settling basin for the suspended solids while the anaerobic biodegradation primarily takes place in pond sediments (Toprak, 1994). Anaerobic reactions taking place in the sediment include solubilization of biodegradable particulate matter followed by acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis (Parker, 1979; Pescod, 1996). The reactions occurring in the bulk liquid are often negligible as compared to those in the pond sediments. Thus, anaerobic ponds achieve a dual purpose of sedimentation of particulate matter as well as anaerobic conversion of organics. However,

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +66-2-524-5644. E-mail address: ajit@ait.ac.th (A.P. Annachhatre).

anaerobic pond operation also has many intrinsic problems such as high land requirements and emission of obnoxious and greenhouse gases such as hydrogen sulde (H2 S), carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4 ) (Parker, 1979; Pescod, 1996; Toprak, 1997; Paing et al., 2003). In spite of these problems, anaerobic ponds are popular particularly wherever land is abundant (Arthur, 1983). Wastewater coming from starch factories is one such type of wastewater, which is treated extensively in anaerobic ponds. Starch is often produced in many parts of the world from tapioca. Tapioca roots contain 20 25% starch. The starch extraction process essentially involves pre-processing of roots, followed by starch extraction, separation and drying. The process generates 2060 m3 /ton of wastewater with a low pH in the range 3.85.2 (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacic, 1982). The wastewater is highly organic in nature with chemical oxygen demand (COD) up to 25,000 mg/l (Bengtsson and Treit, 1994). The wastewater consists of high TSS comprising starch granules in the range 300015,000 mg/l, which are highly biodegradable by nature. Tapioca starch wastewater also has high cyanide content up to 1015 mg/l, which is highly toxic

0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.01.017

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to aquatic life at concentrations of cyanide as low as 0.3 mg/l have been reported as cause for a massive sh kill (Bengtsson and Treit, 1994). Problems related to water pollution are reported to be serious. The acidic nature of wastewater can harm aquatic organisms and reduce the self-purication capacity of the receiving stream. Suspended solids present in the wastewater can settle on the streambed and spoil sh breeding areas in the stream. Since these solids are primarily organic in nature, they decompose easily and thus deoxygenate the water. Similarly, high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the wastewater also can cause rapid depletion of oxygen content in the receiving water body and promote the growth of nuisance organisms. Water pollution caused by tapioca starch production has been reported as a serious problem in many Asian countries, particularly in Thailand (Kiravanich, 1977) and in India (Padmaja et al., 1990). Tapioca also contains bound cyanide as a natural defense mechanism. During the starch manufacturing process, bound cyanide in the form of linamarin and lotaustralin from tapioca roots is hydrolyzed by the enzyme linamarase with decomposition to hydrogen cyanide (HCN), which nds its way into the wastewater. Cyanide containing starch wastewater can be eectively detoxied in anaerobic processes (Annachhatre and Amornkaew, 2000). Upow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) processes are eective in treating starch wastewater (Annachhatre and Amatya, 2000), particularly, in removing cyanide (Annachhatre and Amornkaew, 2001). Adaptation by methanogens to cyanide concentrations of 530 mg/l has been reported in literature (Fedorak et al., 1986; Harper et al., 1983). Thus, in treating tapioca starch wastewater anaerobic ponds achieve a threefold objective namely: sedimentation of particulate matter, anaerobic conversion of organics and detoxication of cyanide. Accordingly, the work presented here assesses the performance of APs treating wastewater from tapioca starch industry, particularly related to COD, TSS and cyanide removal. Since APs serve as a settling basin for starch granules, the settling characteristics were also assessed by column experiments. Furthermore, the potential methane production rates of anaerobic biomass (sludge) obtained from the AP sediment as well as from bulk liquid layer were assessed from the specic methanogenic activity (SMA) test. The cyanide degradability of the anaerobic sludge obtained from the pond sediment layer was also assessed.

Thailand with a capacity of 250 tons starch/day. The factory uses groundwater as a source for process water, and generates combined wastewater of approximately 5000 m3 /d. The operating ambient temperature during the period of investigation was in the range of 3035 C. 2.1. Treatment ponds A schematic of waste stabilization pond system (WSPS) of the starch factory is presented in Fig. 1 (Choi, 2001). The wastewater treatment system consists of 21 APs and facultative ponds (FPs) connected in series with total area of about 36.5 ha. Out of these, 6 are AP with area of 7.39 ha and 15 are FP with 29.11 ha. The study concentrated on anaerobic ponds system. During the study period only four anaerobic ponds were in operation. The typical size of an AP is approximately 250 m in length, 100 m in width and 45 m in depth. The pond parameters are presented in Table 1. The anaerobic ponds treat wastewater from a starch as well as from a glucose factory. The wastewater from the starch factory was rst introduced to Pond #2 and subsequently ows to Pond #4 while the euent from the glucose factory was introduced to Pond #3 and then ows to Pond #5 where wastewater from the starch and glucose factory were combined. The combined wastewater then ows into a series of FPs and treated euent was nally discharged on to the groundwater recharge spreading basins. 2.2. Sludge activity tests The schematic of the SMA test set up is presented in Fig. 2. To determine SMA, a known amount of sludge obtained from the sediment layer of Pond #4 was transferred into serum bottles (115 ml) after washing three times with water to remove existing COD. While 100 ml of bulk liquid from the same pond was kept in a serum bottle to determine SMA of sludge in suspension in the bulk liquid layer. An appropriate amount of starch factory wastewater as substrate was added to the serum bottles so as to obtain an initial COD level in the range of 20002500 mg/l. Nutrients were added to maintain a carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus ratio of 300:5:1. pH was adjusted to between 7 and 7.8. Two grams per liter of NaHCO3 were also added along with substrate to buer the serum bottle contents to near neutral pH conditions during the test. Subsequently the bottles were sealed with a rubber septum and an aluminum cap after purging oxygen with nitrogen (N2 ) gas and attached to the liquid displacement system. The liquid displacement bottle contained 3% NaOH solution. Methane gas production was measured at dierent time intervals up to 48 h. After every gas measurement, by swirling manually, the contents of the serum bottle were mixed. The tests were conducted in a 30 C temperature-

2. Methods Investigations on the existing wastewater anaerobic pond system were carried out in a tapioca starch and glucose factory situated in the Central province of

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137

Fig. 1. Layout of WSPS of starch factory.

Table 1 Ponds parameters APs 1a 2 3 4 5 6a

a b

Surface area (ha) 1.07 1.34 2.06 1.76 0.49 0.67

Volume (m3 104 ) 4.41 5.57 8.62 7.34 1.78 2.46

Depth (m) 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5

Inowb (m3 /d) 4501 731 498 82 4501 731 4999 785

Detention timeb (d) 12.7 1.9 177.8 32.8 16.7 2.5 3.6 0.5

Pond not in operation at the time of this study. Results are mean of nine values standard deviation.

from Pond #4 sediment layer was kept in serum bottles and lled with 70 ml of wastewater having substrate and nutrient similar to those mentioned for the SMA test. A stock cyanide solution was added into each serum bottle to achieve cyanide concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/l respectively. The bottle was then purged with N2 gas and immediately sealed with a rubber septum and an aluminum cap. The bottle was kept in a 30 C temperature-controlled room. Samples were taken with Hamilton syringe at every 8 h interval for 48 h and analyzed for cyanide content.
Fig. 2. Sludge activity test setup.

2.3. Suspended solid settling experiment controlled room. Likewise, cyanide degradation activity of anaerobic pond sediment was carried out also in the serum bottles. A known amount of sludge obtained Batch tests to investigate TSS settling characteristics of starch factory wastewater under quiescent condition

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was carried out in a settling column of 10.0 cm diameter and 2.0 m height for dierent TSS concentrations. Wastewater of a desired TSS concentration for settling experiment was prepared by diluting the concentrated wastewater with tap water. The wastewater was poured into a settling column after stirring thoroughly. Samples from top of column were collected at dierent time intervals ranging from 2 to 60 min and analyzed for TSS concentration. 2.4. Analytical procedures Parameters including COD, BOD5 , TSS, volatile suspended solid (VSS) and dissolved solid (DS) were analyzed according to Standard Methods (APHA et al., 1998). The mass of the sludge used in the sludge activity test was measured in terms of VSS. All the samples were ltered through 0.45 lm glass ber lters for the determination of soluble COD and BOD5 . Cyanide was measured spectrophotometrically (Spectroquant, E. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) as per the procedure reported elsewhere (Annachhatre and Amornkaew, 2000). 2.5. Statistical analysis The anaerobic ponds process performance data were presented in terms of arithmetic averages of nine values standard deviation. The SMA tests were carried out with two replicates. Common linear regression curve was tted to the data obtained from the two replicates test and a relation between volumes of methane production with respect to time was established. The SMA was calculated based on the slope of methane volume versus time curve and mass of sludge taken for the SMA test. Likewise a linear relation was established between the cumulative cyanide degradation with respect to time. Data from settling experiments was used to establish a non-linear relationship between the half-removal time and inuent total suspended solid concentrations. All
Starch wastewater 1 Glucose wastewater d 2

statistical analyses (arithmetic average, standard deviation, linear and non-linear regression and correlation coecient) were performed using Microsoft Excel 2000.

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Analysis of existing wastewater process Characteristics of raw wastewater: The pond system treats approximately 4500 m3 /d of wastewater from starch and approximately 500 m3 /d of wastewater from glucose factory. A scheme of anaerobic ponds and sampling points is shown in Fig. 3. The characterization of raw, inuent and euent wastewater of the pond systems is shown in Table 2. The wastewater characteristics at sampling point, a and d , in Table 2 corresponds, respectively to raw wastewater from starch and glucose factory. Raw wastewater from starch factory was highly acidic in nature while from glucose factory was low acidic to neutral. As can be seen in Table 2, the major pollution load was due to wastewater from starch factory having BOD5 of 12,776 499 mg/l as compared to BOD5 of 1046 153 mg/l from glucose factory. The starch factory wastewater also had TSS of 9130 3067 mg/l mainly as starch granules, which were highly biodegradable by nature. A cyanide concentration of 17.5 1.5 mg/l was found in starch factory wastewater while no cyanide was detected in wastewater from glucose factory. Performance of anaerobic ponds: The details of the pond area and residence time are presented in Table 1. The overall residence time works out to be 33 5 days for starch and 181 33 days for glucose factory wastewater. The average pollution load for the total wastewater ows of 4999 785 m3 /d calculated to be 63,258 10,198 kg COD/d with 62,732 10,152 kg COD/d from starch and 658 138 kg COD/d from glucose factory. The average overall volumetric loading in the anaerobic ponds was 497 82 kg BOD5 /m3 d (514 82 kg COD/m3 d).

4 b c

5 f

e Anaerobic ponds Starch wastewater/influent to pond 2 effluent from pond 2/ influent to pond 4 effluent from pond 4/ influent to pond 5 Glucose wastewater/ influent to pond 3 effluent from pond 3/ influent to pond 5 effluent from pond 5/ influent to pond 6

Sampling point: a.

b. c. d. e. f.

Fig. 3. Scheme of anaerobic ponds and sampling points.

B.K. Rajbhandari, A.P. Annachhatre / Bioresource Technology 95 (2004) 135143 Table 2 Characterization of the inuent and euent of the pond system Parameters COD (mg/l) BOD5 (mg/l) TSS (mg/l) DS (mg/l) pH DO (mg/l) CN (mg/l) Sampling points a 13,941 359 12,776 499 9130 3067 12,400 133 4.2 0.4 2.0 0.4 17.5 1.5 b 12,468 930 11,700 1249 7740 3210 9900 1150 4.2 0.1 2.2 0.3 17.0 1.5 c 1414 35 1102 47 900 314 4950 235 5.7 0.4 0.3 0.1 10.5 1.3 d 1314 127 1046 153 970 285 5900 763 6.8 0.4 0.4 0.2 Nil e 952 36 775 42 400 73 4625 190 6.9 0.1 0.8 0.1 Nil f 538 94 230 60 450 83 3540 125 7.6 0.3 2.7 1.5 8.5 0.7

139

Results are mean of nine values standard deviation.

Out of six anaerobic ponds, Ponds #1 and #6 were not in operation during the study period. Pond #1 was lled up due to accumulation of starch granules from starch wastewater so wastewater from the starch factory was introduced into Pond #2. The average COD, BOD5 and TSS removal in Pond #2 is very small, about 10.5 6.8%, 8.6 6.2% and 18.0 10.9%, respectively (Table 3). It was observed that Pond #2 was also partially lled up by starch granules and a channel was formed where wastewater owed to Pond #4. This indicates that Ponds #1 and #2 operate mainly as settling basins for the suspended solids, and hence, they need to be desludged regularly. Accumulation of starch granules in the pond also reduces the residence time in the pond signicantly. The pH in Pond #2 was acidic, in the range 4.14.3. Under this condition, methanogenesis cannot occur, as this condition is highly unfavorable for the growth of methanogenic bacteria (Duarte and Anderson, 1982). This is further brought out by the fact that BOD5 removal in Pond #2 was less than 10%. However, in Ponds #4 and #5, the pH was between 6 and 8 as these ponds were active anaerobically. In fact, intense biological activity was observed in these two ponds as evidenced by formation of excessive gas bubbles and the existence of oating sludge on the pond surface. According to Zehnder et al. (1982), the optimum pH range for all methanogenic bacteria is between 6.0 and 8.0, but the optimum value for the group as a whole is close to 7.0. Van Haandel and Lettinga (1994) reported the same observation.
Table 3 Average loading and removal rate of anaerobic ponds Pond 1 2 3 4 5 6 Overall Volumetric loading rate (g BOD5 /m3 d) Not in operation 1031 165 62 716 128 299 47 Not in operation 497 82 Removal rate COD (%) 10.5 6.8 26.9 7.8 88.7 0.8 60.7 6.6 96.1 0.8

Based on data in Table 3, it is apparent that the performance of Ponds #4 and #5 is satisfactory. Pond #4 was the most ecient one and provided average COD, BOD5 and TSS removal of 88.6 0.6%, 90.5 0.6% and 87.6 2.8%, respectively. The average volumetric loading of 1031 165 g BOD5 /m3 d in Pond #2 was very high and 6 2 g BOD5 /m3 d in Pond #3 was very low, while 716 128 and 300 47 g BOD5 /m3 d in Ponds #4 and #5, respectively, were within the range found in much of the literature (Ellis, 1980; Arthur, 1983; Gomes de Sousa, 1987; Mara and Pearson, 1998). The starch wastewater also contained 17.5 1.5 mg/l of cyanide. Since the ponds have been in operation for over 20 years, it was anticipated that the sludge would be well acclimatized to cyanide present in the wastewater. Average cyanide removal of 2.8 2.5%, 38.4 2.6% and 9.2 5.0% was observed in anaerobic Ponds #2, #4 and #5, respectively. The overall removal rate for COD, BOD5 and TSS were 96.2 0.6%, 98.2 0.4% and 94.7 1.3% respectively (Table 3), whereas the removal eciencies for DS and CN were 71.4 1.0% and 51.2 1.1%, respectively. However, the quality of treated euent from the series of anaerobic ponds (Table 3, corresponding to sampling point f ) still did not meet the euent standard, therefore, further treatment of treated wastewater from the anaerobic pond system is required. The COD removal eciency is in agreement with results reported elsewhere (Annachhatre and Amatya, 2000) for UASB reactor, treating the wastewater from the same starch factory. Pena et al. (2000) studied the performance of an

BOD (%) 8.6 6.9 25.0 7.2 90.5 0.6 78.3 6.2 98.2 0.5

TSS (%) 18.0 10.9 57.2 7.0 87.6 2.8 44.0 10.6 94.7 1.3

DS (%) 20.2 9.3 20.8 7.3 49.6 3.8 28.0 1.3 71.4 1.0

CN (%) 2.8 2.5 38.4 2.6 9.2 5.0 51.2 1.1

Results are mean of nine values standard deviation.

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AP and a UASB reactor treating the same domestic sewage under the same environmental conditions and reported similar performance of these two systems. 3.2. Sludge activity The SMA test results (Fig. 4) of sludge taken from the pond sediment layer exhibited a negligible level of methane production during the rst 13 h and increased afterwards. This revealed that approximately 13 h was required for conversion of organic matter from starch factory wastewater to produce a sucient amount of organic acid (substrate for methane producing bacteria) that is required for substantial methanogenic activity. However instantaneous methane production was observed in the case of sludge taken from pond bulk liquid layer because of the presence of residual organic acids in the liquid. The SMA test result obtained from this study is given in Table 4 along with the other values reported in literature (Valcke and Verstraete, 1983; James et al., 1990; Ince et al., 1995). As can be seen from Table 4, the

60

potential methane production rate of 20.7 and 11.3 ml CH4 /g VSS d for the sludge from pond sediment and bulk liquid layer, respectively, obtained from this study was lower than those reported values. This could explain the relatively long retention time required for AP compared to UASB when treating the same wastewater. Since APs are a low rate system they require retention times between 1 and 2 days at temperature around 25 C to achieve 7080% of BOD5 removal eciency, depending on the wastewater strength (Mara et al., 1992). UASB reactors also achieve the same level of treatment but at shorter retention times of around 68 h (Van Haandel and Lettinga, 1994). The cyanide degradability test of anaerobic sludge obtained from the Pond #4 sediment layer was conducted for initial cyanide concentration of 10 and 20 mg/l. The slope of the line for an initial cyanide concentration of 10 mg/l (Fig. 5) provides an average cyanide degradation rate of 4.02 mg CN /l d, corresponding to an average cyanide degradability of 0.43 mg CN /g VSS d. Likewise, an average cyanide degradation rate of 7.83 mg CN /l d was obtained for an initial cyanide concentration of 20 mg/l, yielding an average cyanide degradability of 0.84 mg CN /g VSS d. 3.3. Suspended solid settling in ponds Removal of organic matter in anaerobic ponds is brought about both by sedimentation and anaerobic digestion (Oswald, 1968; McGarry and Pescod, 1970). Anaerobic wastewater stabilization ponds are considered to be an important rst-step treatment as they

Cum. methane (ml)

50 40 30 20 10

y = 29.393x - 16.248 R2 = 0.9776

VSS = 1.42 g 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

0 (a) 0.0 8

Cum. methane (ml)

6 4 2 0

y = 1.8153x + 1.6847 R 2 = 0.8188

Cum. CN - degration (mg /l)
20 15 10 5 0 0.0 y = 4.0225x R 2 = 0.9728 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 VSS = 0.65 g y = 7.828x R2 = 0.9581

VSS = 0.16 g 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

(b)

Time (day) Replica 1 Replica 2

Time (day) Initial CN=10 mg/l Initial CN=20 mg/l

Fig. 4. SMA on sludge from (a) anaerobic pond sediment layer and (b) anaerobic pond bulk liquid layer.

Fig. 5. Cumulative cyanide degradation against time.

Table 4 Comparison of SMA results Biomass from Pond sediment layer Pond bulk liquid layer UASB UASB UASB Feed Starch wastewater Starch wastewater Brewery wastewater Acetate Acetate Temperature (C) 30 30 36 1 30 35 SMA (ml CH4 /g VSS d) 20.7 11.3 50 71103 200400 Reference This study This study Ince et al. (1995) Valcke and Verstraete (1983) James et al. (1990)

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Fraction of TSS removal (S0-S)/S0
1.0
S0=12528 mg/l

141

Half removal time (min)

80 60 40 20 0 0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 Influent TSS concentration (mg/l) y = 705.61x -0.4607 R2 = 0.8036

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Settling time (min)

S0=9126 mg/l S0=7780 mg/l S0=5112 mg/l S0=4588 mg/l S0=3508 mg/l S0=3302 mg/l S0=1632 mg/l S0=630 mg/l S0=490 mg/l Model(th=9 min) Model(th=40 min)

Fig. 7. Half-removal time against inuent TSS.

Fig. 6. Settling curve for various inuent suspended solid concentrations.

S0 S T S0 T th

allow for settleable materials in the raw wastewater to separate out and fall to the bottom sludge zone (Saqqar and Pescod, 1995). Considering the importance of settling of suspended particles, the settling experiment was carried out to study the settling characteristics of suspended solid from starch wastewater. The relationship between settling time and suspended solids removal under various inuent suspended solid concentrations found from experiment is shown in Fig. 6. The gure shows that approximately 9095% of inuent TSS removal occurs within 120 min due to sedimentation at and above 1600 mg/l inuent TSS concentration. However nearly 70% and 60% removal occurs within 120 min in the case of 630 and 490 mg/l of inuent TSS, respectively. The settling time of 120 min was very small compared to the retention time of the ponds, which revealed that the suspended solid settlement and accumulation mainly occurs near the inlet zone of the ponds. However the actual suspended solids removal in anaerobic ponds was observed to be less than the value expected from settling experiment. This was because of short-circuiting in case of Pond #2 due to the accumulation of starch granules and reducing the actual volume of ponds. In the case of APs #3 to 5, the re-suspension of settled solids occurred due to bubbling up of biogas as well as scouring of settled materials near the pond outlet zone along the outow. The re-suspended solids carried out with pond euent were the cause of reduced suspended solid removal eciency of the ponds. Tay (1982) proposed a settling model given in Eq. (1) based on the settling characteristics of suspension and hydraulic characteristics of the tank for settling performance. The model considered detention time and halfsettling time as hydraulic characteristics and settling characteristics, respectively. Half-removal time is dened as the time at which 50% of inuent suspended solid is removed.

where S0 inuent TSS, mg/l; S euent TSS, mg/l; T detention time, min; th half-removal time, min. The half-removal time with respect to inuent suspended solid concentration obtained from the settling experiment with wastewater from starch factory is shown in Fig. 7. It appears that the half-removal time value at 1600 mg/l of inuent TSS is on character data (Fig. 7). By ignoring this data a correlation line is drawn which follows a relationship of the type shown in Eq. (2) (R2 0:80). th 705:61S0
0:4607

For inuent TSS of 500 and 12,500 mg/l, the half-removal time is calculated to be 9 and 40 min, respectively, from Eq. (2). The relation of TSS removal and settling time at half-removal time of 9 and 40 min obtained from model Eq. (1) is shown in Fig. 6. Most of the points obtained from settling experiment above inuent TSS of 630 mg/l falls within the range of model values for 9 and 40 min half-removal times. It implies that the model is applicable to dene the settling characteristics of starch wastewater.

4. Conclusions This study essentially focused on evaluating the eciency of a series of anaerobic ponds treating high organic carbon and cyanide containing wastewater from a tapioca starch factory. SMA of sludge obtained from pond sediments as well from pond bulk liquid layer was assessed in order to determine the relative conversion rates in bulk liquid and sediment layer. Cyanide degradability of sludge taken from the pond sediment layer was also assessed. Furthermore, investigation on TSS settling characteristics of starch wastewater was also carried out. The existing anaerobic pond system eectively removed organic carbon and suspended solids. However,

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the treated euent required further treatment to meet the euent standard before nal discharge into any surface water. Overall COD and TSS removal of over 90% was achieved as inuent COD of 13,941 359 mg/l was reduced to less than 700 mg/l and inuent TSS of about 9130 3067 mg/l was reduced to less than 600 mg/l. Overall CN removal of 51% was observed from the system by reducing the concentration from 17.5 1.5 mg/l in starch factory wastewater to 8.5 0.7 mg/l in the nal euent of series of anaerobic pond system. Active biomass from the anaerobic pond sediments and bulk liquid had SMA of 20.7 and 11.3 ml CH4 /g VSS d, respectively. Likewise cyanide degradability of sludge obtained were 0.430.84 mg CN /g VSS d at initial cyanide concentration of 1020 mg/l, respectively. Settling column test on wastewater from starch factory revealed that settling time of approximately 120 min were sucient to remove 9095% of the inuent TSS.

Acknowledgements This research was carried out under Modeling Tools for Environment and Resource Management (MTERM) project funded by Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) and Waste Water Treatment and Management project under Asian Regional Research Program on Environmental Technology (ARRPET) funded by Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The authors are thankful to Prof. Jean-Luc VASEL, Foundation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise, Arlon, Belgium for his critical suggestions throughout this research.

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