ANAEROBIC

DIGESTERS
JKSMDM
JMBP
Typical Industry COD Removal (%) BOD Removal (%)

Wastewaters Brewery
Distillery
70-90
70-90
>90
>90
and Recycled Paper Processing 65-80 80-90

Anaerobic Potato Processing

Starch Production
80-90
70-85
80-95
80-95

System Bulk Chemical 60-90 >90

Performances
Pharmaceutical 55-75 >90
Types of Anaerobic Digesters
Attached Growth
■ The biomass is fixed to a surface
■ Utilize either fixed film or carrier
media
Suspended growth
■ The biomass can mix freely with the
reactor liquid
■ Typically have sludge that is
considered to be ‘granular’ or
‘flocculent’
 An anaerobic filter is a
fixed-bed biological
Anaerobic Filter reactor with one or
more filtration
chambers in series.
Aiming at removing
non-settleable and
dissolved solids
Usually used as
secondary treatment
in household black-
or greywater systems
and improved the
solid removal
compared to septic
tanks or anaerobic
digesters.
How does it work? Anaerobic filters are based on the combination of:
Physical treatment
(settling)
Biological treatment
(anaerobic digestion)
Watertight tank containing several
layers of submerged media which
provides surface area for bacteria to
settle.

Used for wastewater with low

percentage of suspended solids
and narrow COD/BOD ratio.
Suitable for domestic and industrial
wastewaters, which has lower
suspended solids content
For BOD concentration > 1000mg/L,
biogas recovery may be considered.
How does it work? Anaerobic filters may be operated:
Upflow (flowing bottom to top)
- Commonly used
- less risk that the fixed biomass will be washed out.
Downflow (flowing top to bottom)
- Flushing of the filter for the purpose of cleaning is easier.
A combination of the upflow and downflow

Commonly used filter material are:

gravel, rocks, cinder or specially formed plastic pieces
Filter media must be completely submerged with the
water level covering at least 30 cm from the top

For upflow systems, filter material sizes decreases from

top to bottom
Typical filter material sizes: 12 to 55mm in diameter

Typical number of layers: 2 to 3 filter layers

 Other
information:
Pros and Cons
+ No electrical energy required
+ Low operating cost
+ Long service life
+ High reduction of BOD and solids
+ Low sludge production; the sludge is stabilized
+ Moderate area requirement (can be built underground)

- Requires expert design and construction

- Low reduction of pathogens and nutrients
- Effluent and sludge require further treatment and/or
appropriate discharge
- Risk of clogging, depending on pre- and
primary treatment
- Removing and cleaning the clogged filter media is
cumbersome
Upflow
anaerobic
sludge blanket
In a UASB, wastewater flows upwards
through a blanket of granular sludge
suspended in the tank. The upward flow
combined with the settling action of gravity
suspends the blanket of small sludge
granules whose surface area is covered in
aggregations of bacteria. The flow
conditions create a selective environment
in which only those microorganisms
capable of attaching to each other survive
and proliferate.
Upflow
anaerobic
sludge blanket
• Typical loadings are in the range of five to 15
kilograms of chemical oxygen demand per
cubic meter per day (kg COD/m3/d)

• Require low influent TSS concentrations (<

15 percent of the influent COD
concentration) and FOG concentrations (<
100 milligram per liter (mg/l))

• The sludge blanket is comprised of microbial

granules (1 to 3 mm in diameter)

• An upflow velocity of 0.7 to 1 m/h must be

maintained to keep the sludge blanket in
suspension

• The sludge blanket begins to reach maturity

at about 3 months and desludging is done
every 2 – 3 years
Upflow
anaerobic
sludge blanket
+ high reduction of BOD

+ can withstand high organic and hydraulic loading rates

+ low sludge production (and, thus, infrequent desludging

required)

+ biogas can be used for energy (but usually first requires

scrubbing)

- treatment may be unstable with variable hydraulic and

organic loads

- requires operation and maintenance by skilled personnel;

difficult to maintain proper hydraulic conditions (upflow and
settling rates must be balanced)

- long start-up time

- a constant source of electricity is required

- not all parts and materials may be locally available

- requires expert design and construction

-effluent and sludge require further treatment and/or

appropriate discharge
Anaerobic
baffled
reactor
In an ABR, baffles are used to direct the
flow of wastewater in an upflow mode
through a series of upflow anaerobic air
sludge blanket reactors. The sludge in the
reactor rises and falls with gas production
and flow, but moves through the reactor at
a slow rate.
Anaerobic
baffled
reactor
• Reactor volatile solids concentration vary
from 2-10%

• Τ range from 6 to 24 hours

• SRT in excess of 30 days

• Designed for COD loading of 5-10 kg/m3·d

• Typical inflows range from 2 to 200 m3 per

day

• Critical design parameters include a

hydraulic retention time (HRT) between 48 to
72 hours, upflow velocity of the wastewater
below 0.6 m/h and the number of upflow
chambers (3 to 6)

• Accumulated sludge and scum is removed

every 1-3 years
Anaerobic
baffled
reactor
+ Resistant to organic and hydraulic shock loads

+ No electrical energy is required

+ Low operating costs

+ Long service life

+ High reduction of BOD

+ Low sludge production; the sludge is stabilized

+ Moderate area requirement (can be built

underground)

- Requires expert design and construction

- Low reduction of pathogens and nutrients

- Effluent and sludge require further treatment

and/or appropriate discharge
Other anaerobic digesters
■ Low loaded anaerobic lagoon system
■ Expanded granular sludge blanket
■ Internal circulation UASB
■ Fluidized bed
■ Anaerobic contact process
■ Anaerobic hybrid process
■ Anaerobic membrane process
■ Anaerobic migrating blanket reactor
■ Anaerobic sequencing batch reactor
■ Continuously stirred tank anaerobic reactor
■ Plug flow anaerobic system