STUDY OF A SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR TREATING WASTEWATER FROM AN INDUSTRY OF SOFT DRINKS

Abstract

This work aimed to study a pilot scale sequencing batch reactor in order to enhance its performance treating wastewater from a soft drink industry. Initially, 5 liters of anaerobic sludge from an UASB reactor were inoculated in the reactor, which was acclimatized to the new conditions during two months. Conducted microscopy examination was developed to observe the microorganisms present in the sludge. After this stage, experimental procedure was divided in six phases with different times of cycles ranging from 8 to 18 hours, divided in aeration, stir and settle. As a result, higher removal percentages of COD were obtained in the 10 hours cycle, reaching an average of 89.8%. The cycle that had higher nitrogen removals was of 14 hours, with mean removal of 78.8%. In all cycles tested, the presence of nitrate in treated effluent was not detected, characterizing biological denitrification.