Performance of a UASB reactor treating coffee wet wastewater

Abstract

The present work shows the results obtained in the anaerobic digestion process of coffee wet wastewater processing. An UASB anaerobic reactor was operated in single-stage in mesophilic temperature controlled conditions (37±1ºC). The effect of both organic load - ing rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the anaerobic digestion of coffee wet wastewater was investigated. The OLR values considered in the single-stage UASB reactor varied in a range of 3,6-4,1 kgCOD m -3 d -1 and the HRT stayed in a range of 21,5-15,5 hours. The evaluation results show that the best performance of UASB reactor in single-stage was obtained at OLR of 3,6 kg COD m -3 d -1 with an average value of total and soluble COD removal of 77,2% and 83,4%, respectively, and average methane concentration in biogas of 61%. The present study suggests that the anaerobic digestion is suitable to treating coffee wet wastewater.