Comparing the effect of bioflocculant with synthetic polymers on enhancing granulation in UASB reactors for low-strength wastewater treatment

Abstract

This study was aimed at introducing a novel bioflocculant to enhance anaerobic granulation in a UASB reactor for lowstrength synthetic wastewater and comparing the effect with synthetic polymers. A laboratory-scale study was undertaken to achieve this goal. Four identical UASB reactors were operated in parallel in the treatment of low-strength synthetic wastewa ter over 136d at 35 ± 1 ℃. One unit (labelled R1) was injected weekly with bioflocculant, a 2nd unit (labelled R2) was operated with the addition of acrylamide-chitosan graft copolymer, a 3rd unit (labelled R3) was operated with the addition of cationic polyacrylamide , and a 4th (labelled R4) served as a control without any polymer addition. The results showed that R1 was the most efficient, while R3 performed better than the other two reactors. The rates of granulation in R1, R2 and R3 were enhanced by 50% vs. 87% vs. 75% when compared with R4.

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