Studies on Laboratory Scale Sequential Batch Reactor for Treatment of Domestic Wastewater

Nowadays, huge amount of domestic and industrial waste is being discharge to the surface or groundwater which poses a great threat to the mankind. Hence, treatment of any kind of wastewater to produce effluent with good quality is necessary. In this regard, choosing an effective treatment system is much important. Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) holds a special place in the wastewater treatment which is a modified version of activated sludge process. An SBR operates in a true batch mode with equalization, aeration and sludge settling, all occurring in the same tank. The removal of organic load in the reactor mainly depends on the duration of reaction phase, so it is essential to determine the optimum duration of reaction phase. In the present study, an attempt was made to optimize the duration of the reaction phase in SBR for the treatment of domestic wastewater and removal efficiency of COD, BOD and SS were studied. To optimize the duration of reaction phase in SBR, a 100-litre capacity laboratory scale model was fabricated and operated for 100 cycles for various reaction phases. The percentage removal efficiency of BOD, COD and SS for various reaction periods was calculated and the graph between reaction percentage removal efficiency of BOD, COD and SS were drawn, the results were utilized to determine the optimum reaction period for effective treatment of domestic wastewater with high removal efficiency using SBR.