DIAGNOSIS OF BIOSOLID MATERIALS USING A LOW-COST DIFFERENTIAL RESPIROMETER

Abstract

This study justifies the applicability of a simple respirometric technique to diagnose the biosolid materials collected from municipal sewer lines. Samples of active settled sludge were collected from three different sewer lines of Sylhet city area (Bangladesh) enriched with residential, commercial and industrial discharge respectively. Reaction vessel of the respirometer, partially filled with biosolid samples has been integrated with a compensation vessel to neutralize the temperature-pressure effect on the manometer readings. Results deduced from the systematic analysis of respirograms show that the biosolids from residential source could be used effectively as soil conditioner due to its high content of biodegradable materials while industrial sample exhibited toxic inhibitory effects on microbial degradation process.

Keywords

• Biosolid materials
• Differential respirometer
• Respirogram
• Inhibition
• Soil conditioner