The anaerobic treatment of soft drink wastewater in UASB and hybrid reactors

The anaerobic treatment of soft drink wastewater (SDW) was studied in two laboratory reactors-a 1.8-L UASB reactor and a 3-L hybrid reactor-sludge bed containing a layer of polyurethane in the upper part, at 35 degrees C. The highest organic loading rates (OLR) achieved were 13 and 16.5 g COD/L . D for hybrid and UASB reactors, respectively, with the treatment efficiency of about 80% for both reactors. Despite the higher treatment productivity achieved for the UASB reactor, its lower ability to generate a sufficient level of alkalinity led to difficulties in maintaining a stable operation performance. Therefore, the hybrid reactor seems to be indicated for OLR higher than 10 g COD/L . d and HRT lower than 1 D, from the point of view of reliability of these two systems. Both reactors can treat the SDW with pH influent up to 11.0. The feeding of reactors with higher pH influent values led to their quick failure because of alkali shock. The duration of the recovery period after alkali shock was about 1.5-2 mo.