Performance of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor Treating Beverages Wastewater Using Cosmo Ball Coated With and Without Activated Carbon

Abstract

Beverages industry producing large amount of wastewater during production and the cleaning process. The effluent discharge needs to be treated as it is harmful to the environment due to its high concentration of organic substances. In this study, the aim is to investigate the moving bed biofilm reactor’s performance in treating beverages wastewater with (CMBAC) and without activated carbon (CMB). The surface of cosmo ball was coated with granular activated carbon used as the attached growth media in the reactor. 18 L of MBBR using cosmo ball as media was setup at flowrate and hydraulic retention time of 1.5 L/hr and 8 hours, respectively. The reactor was maintained at pH 7 with minimum dissolved oxygen concentration of 2 mg/L. Experiment was repeated by using CMBAC as media. The best percentage removal achieved for chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solid was by MBBR using CMBAC with 92.7% and 83.4%, respectively. It should be noted that absorption of contaminant by activated carbon absorption enhanced the organic removal in the reactor.