Treatment of HTPB Plant Wastewater Using UASB Reactor Method

In this study, the efficiency of UASB reactor method for treatment of HTPB plant wastewater was investigated. For this purpose, a UASB reactor with a volume of 227 liters was used. The HTPB plant wastewater includes ethanol, oxygen peroxide, various compounds of HTPB resin and water. The UASB reactor was started up with the feed concentration of 500 mgcod/l. To make sure of the sludge granulizing process during the start-up period, various analyses such as TSS, VSS and methanogenic activity were carried out over sludge samples. These analyses indicated that the sludge was successfully granulated into the UASB reactor. Also, results of effluent analysis showed that treatment efficiency was progressively raised. Treatment efficiency was 78% at the end of start-up period. After stabilization of the treatment process, effect of feed concentration and liquid apparent velocity were evaluated. Results of the reactor experiments indicated that feed concentration of 10000 mgcod/l and apparent velocity of 1.3 m/h are the optimum conditions for treatment of HTPB plant wastewater. Under this condition, the removal efficiency of contaminants was 95%.