Treatment of settled domestic sewage using a hybridized anaerobic baffled reactor (HABR)‎

Abstract EN

This research work aimed at obtaining a low cost sustainable technology for domestic wastewater treatment for Egyptian rural areas.

To make this come through, a high rate hybridized anaerobic baffled reactor (HABR) was pilot tested for a period of about 18 months in order to assess the state of art and the technical and economic efficiency of this system.

The reactor (HABR) was constructed with a total volume of 800 liters and consists of four compartments.

The plastic media used had specific surface area = 100 m2 /m3 .

The average influent COD concentration was about 300 mg / l.

The overall HRTs tested were 3.5, 2.5, 1.5, 1.0 and 0.5 days with average influent organic loadings in the range from 0.05 to 0.25 Kg BOD5/m3.day.

At a HRT of 3.5 days, the HABR gave an average BOD5 removal rate of 79% with an effluent of 25 mg/lit.

In a likewise manner, the COD removal rate recorded at the same HRT was 85.7%.

The BOD5 removal rates dropped from 79% at a HRT of 3.5 days to about 50.5% at a HRT of 0.5 days.

This system provided attractive possibilities for large-scale application within small communities with population less than 5000 capita in Egypt.