IJEAS0301048

International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (IJEAS)
ISSN: 2394-3661, Volume-3, Issue-1, January 2016
Comparative study of OLR and HRT in different

reactors and substrates for Biogas production
Aysha Sherieff, A. Swaroopa Rani, Zahoorullah.S.MD
agro-industry waste from palm oil mill industry. It was
Abstract Organic Loading Rate (OLR) is a parameter that estimated to be 0.27 million tons a year [7]. Biogas
indicates how many kilograms of organic dry solids are loaded production by anaerobic digestion is studied in different fruit
per meter cube of digester volume and unit of time. HRT is the and vegetable wastes in a Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor
relation of reactor volume and the volume of daily feed that
(CSTR) [8]. The high-rate anaerobic reactors developed and
represents the average time the raw materials spend in the
biogas digester. The longer the HRT, the more of the organic
used in recent years is the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket
matter is degraded. Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) and OLR (UASB) reactor which has become one of the most popular
affect the biogas process. OLR is the quantity of organic matter designs for the biological treatment of effluents. It is used in
to be treated in a specific process at a given time and is related to particularly in the food processing industries [9].
HRT. All biogas process have a threshold Organic Loading Rate
above which it cannot be increased due to either technical II. CSTR FOR FROZEN SEAFOOD WASTEWATER
limitations that high Total Solids (TS) for the plant design
results in inefficient mixing and blockages or microbiological Thaniya Kaosol and Narumol Sohgrathok, 2012 have stated
limitations with high Volatile Solids (VS) in feed resulting in that anaerobic co-digestion using decanter cake from palm oil
intermediate inhibition. The paper compares the OLR and HRT mill industry by conducting experiments in laboratory-scale.
of different reactors using different substrates for Biogas This will improve the biogas production from frozen seafood
Production. wastewater in CSTR (Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor). A
mechanical Mixer is used with 24 hours of mixing time where
a suitable Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) was observed in
Index Terms OLR, HRT, Biogas, Total Solids, Volatile CSTR experiments. The efficiency of biogas production is
Solids
influenced by the HRT of CSTR process. The best
performance for biogas production for this process is 20 days
I. INTRODUCTION
of HRT of anaerobic codigestion with maximum methane
Anaerobic digestion is the biological degradation of inorganic production rate of 1.86 l/d. The average maximum methane
and organic substrates in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can production is 64.6%. The results show that the decanter cake
be used for cooking, steam heating and generation of can improve biogas productivity of frozen seafood
electricity [1][2][3]. There are four stages involved in the wastewater.
production of biogas using anaerobic digestion process. First,
the polymers are converted into monomers from particulate III. UASB BIOREACTOR FOR CANNING FACTORY
organic matters by undergoing hydrolysis by extra cellular EFFLUENT
enzymes. Secondly by acidogenic bacteria, that converts the
W Trnovec and TJ Britz, 1998 demonstrated that in canning
soluble organic matter and products of hydrolysis into organic
Industry, for the treatment of a carbohydrate rich effluent a
acids, alcohols, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Thirdly,
mesophylic laboratory scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge
conversion of acidogenic products into acetic acid, hydrogen
Blanket (UASB) bioreactor is utilized. The system had
and carbon dioxide by acetogenic bacteria occurs. Finally,
stabilized in the bioreactor with inoculation of 500 g of
methanogenic bacteria are responsible for methane
anaerobic granules and the Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT)
production from the products of acetogens.
was set at 24 h. The substrate pH is set at 8.0 to prevent the
effect of rapid acidification. The experimental study is
The effluent produced from biogas digester can be used as a
conducted in three steps, first the COD was increased from
biofertiliser or soil conditioner [4]. Vegetable wastes
2300 to a full strength of 4000 mg/litre. In the second, the
generated largely in markets were disposed in municipal
OLR was increased by decreasing HRT from 24 h to 8 h
landfill or dumping sites [5]. In canning Industry, the waste
which resulted in OLR to increase from 3.95 to 10.95 kg COD
waters have a high organic content or have little or no toxic
m-3 d-1 with an average COD removal of 90- 93% and
material [6] and include the situation where waste waters are
removal rate of 9.8 kg COD m-3 d-1.
produced over a short period of the year. Decanter cake is an
This has concluded that the system had reached its minimum
Aysha Shereiff, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, HRT confirming the stabilization of the granule bed and thus
Joginpally B.R Engineering College, Yenkapally, Moinabad Mandal, R.R. HRT of 10 h was taken as the optimum. As the neutralization
District, Hyderabad-500075, Telangana State, India. costs are influencing the economic aspects, lower pH values
A.Swaroopa Rani, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, was investigated in the third study. The pH of the canning
JNTUA College of Engineering, Pulivendula-516390, Kadapa District,
Andhra Pradesh, India. effluent was lowered from 8.0 to 5.0 where at this point, COD
Zahoorullah.S.MD, Associate Professor, Department of removal dropped, biogas production decreased and the
Biotechnology, Joginpally B.R Engineering College, Yenkapally, Moinabad digester effluent pH is dropped to 6.2. The lower end of the
Mandal, R.R. District, Hyderabad-500075, Telangana State, India. operational pH had been reached from the slow recovery of
the digester and the low COD removal ie., 66.1%, any further
108 www.ijeas.org
Comparative study of OLR and HRT in different reactors and substrates for Biogas production
lowering of the substrate pH would lead to system failure. At Dr. Ch. Sasikala, Professor, Centre for Environment, Institute
pH 5.5 the fresh canning effluent can be introduced into the of Science & Technology, JNT University, Hyderabad, India.
digester without any neutralization process.
REFERENCES
IV. FED-BATCH REACTOR FOR ANAEROBIC [1] Mata-Alvarez J, Cecchi F, Llabres P and Pavan P, Anaerobic
DIGESTION OF VEGETABLE WASTES digestion of the Barcelona central food market organic wastes:
Experimental study, Bioresource Technology, 1992, 39: 39-48.
[2] Verrier D, Ray F and Florentz M, Two stage anaerobic digestion of
B. Velmurugan and R. Alwar Ramanujam, 2001 stated that solid vegetable wastes: bench scale studies, Proceedings of 3rd
using the Vegetable wastes like Banana stem, Cabbage and international symposium of anaerobic digestion, Boston, USA,1983.
Ladies finger can be anaerobically digested in a fed-batch [3] Ahring B K, Mladenovska Z, Iranpour R, and Westermann P, State of
the art and future perspectives of thermophilic anaerobic digestion,
laboratory scale reactor at mesophilic conditions ie., 35o C Water science and Technology, 2002, 45: 298-308.
Temperature. The OLR was maintained at 2.25 g/l.d with [4] Ali R, Tekin and Coskun Dalgic A, Biogas production from olive
HRT of 30 days. The average methane content in the biogas pomace, Resources, Conservation and recycling, 2000, 30: 301-313.
was 65% and the Methane yield was 0.387 l CH4/g VS added [5] Srilatha H R, Krishna N, Sudhakar Bada K and Madhukara K,
Fungal pretreatment of orange processimg waste by solid-state
for the selected types of wastes in a single stage fed-batch fermentation for improved production of methane, Process
anaerobic reactor for biogas production. The comparisons of Biochemistry, 1995; 30: 327-331.
the different substrates utilized for various reactors with [6] Kroyer GT (1995) Impact of food processing on the environment - An
influence of OLR and HRT with substrate pH is shown in overview. J. Food Sci. 28 547-552.
[7] O. Chavalparit, W.H. Rulkens, A.P.J. Mol, S. Khaodhair, Options for
Table1. environmental sustainability of the crude palm oil industry in
Thailand through enhancement of industrial ecosystems,
Table 1: Different substrate shows OLR, HRT and pH for Environment, Development and Sustainability, 8(2), 2006, 271-287.
different reactors [8] Knol W, Van der most M M and Dewart J, Biogas production by
anaerobic digestion of fruit and vegetable wastes. A preliminary
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[9] Lettinga G,; Hulshoff Pol LW,; Zeeman, G. ; Field, J; Van Lier JB,;
Van Buuren J.C.L,; Janssen A.J.H and Lens P (1997) Anaerobic
treatment in sustainable environmental production concepts. Proc. 8th
Int. Conf. Anaerobic Digestion (Vol 1.) Sendai, Japan. 32-39.
[10] Thaniya Kaosol and Narumol Sohgrathok, "Influence of Hydraulic
Retention Time on Biogas Production from Frozen Seafood
Wastewater using Decanter Cake as Anaerobic Co-digestion
material" World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological,
Geological and Geophysical Engineering Vol:6, No:5, 2012.
[11] W Trnovec and TJ Britz, Influence of organic loading rate and
* OLR studies of Thaniya Kaosol and Narumol Sohgrathok, hydraulic retention time on the efficiency of a UASB bioreactor
2012 for CSTR using seafood waste water is not treating a canning factory effluent,Water SA, Vol. 24 No. 2 April
1998.
demonstrated. [12] B. Velmurugan and R. Alwar Ramanujam, Anaerobic Digestion of
Vegetable Wastes for Biogas Production in a Fed-Batch Reactor,
V. CONCLUSION International Journal of Emerging Sciences, 1(3), 478-486,
September 2011.
The effect of HRT on the biogas production using CSTR

experiment demonstrated that the suitable HRT for anaerobic
co-digestion is 20 days with the average maximum methane
production at 64.6%. Anaerobic co-digestion of decanter cake
from palm oil industry helps in increase in biogas productivity
of frozen seafood wastewater from frozen seafood industry
and is very important for corporate economy of the biogas
plant. UASB reactor is feasible for treatment of the
carbohydrate-rich effluents produced in the canning industry.
UASB design is operated at HRT of 10 h. The UASB
bioreactor in terms of HRTs, OLRs and substrate pH as
operated in this study was more efficient when compared to
other results. Using Fed batch laboratory scale reactor, the
methane content in the reactor was 65% which is
approximately same with CSTR using frozen sea food waste
water. The Anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste has been
carried out in a laboratory scale reactor with a HRT of 30
days.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Mr. Johny Joseph, Sr.
Principal Scientist, BEEC, IICT, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, India.
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International Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences (IJEAS)

ISSN: 2394-3661, Volume-3, Issue-1, January 2016

Comparative study of OLR and HRT in different

The effect of HRT on the biogas production using CSTR

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