Anaerobic treatment of concentrated black water in a UASB reactor at a short HRT

Abstract

This research describes the feasibility of applying a UASB reactor for the treatment of concentrated black (toilet) water at 25 °C. On average 78% of the influent load of COD at an HRT of 8.7 days was removed. Produced methane can be converted to 56 MJ/p/y as electricity and 84 MJ/p/y as heat by combined heat and power (CHP). Minimum reactor volume at full scale was calculated to be 63L per person (for black water containing 16 gCOD/L produced at 5 L/p/d) and this is more than two times smaller than other type of reactors for anaerobic treatment of concentrated black water.