Re-engineering Domestic Septic Tanks into Biogas Tanks

Abstract

This study is to design a novel septic tank, named Anaerobic Upflow Domestic Septic Tank (AUDST) to recover biogas asenergy and treat domestic sewage. The green technology proposes alternate options to existing Domestic Septic Tanks (DST),encourages anaerobically pre-treatment to reduce bacteria, pollutants, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical oxygen demand(COD) and Biological oxygen demand (BOD) before the effluent is discharged or is removed by cesspit trucks. Studies haveshown that DST in homes partially treat or just store sewage. Again, these DST have to be emptied from time to time becauseit lack features that will sustain anaerobic activity and usually the sludge is disposed of directly into the sea, water bodies andeven into open places such as “Lavender Hills” without any treatment or disinfection. These practices cause severe public healthand environmental problems. To tackle the challenge at household level, DST are redesigned to treat domestic sewage with lessmanagement, low operating cost, low secondary discharge of pollutants. The proposed new design concept is operated throughthree (3) units: such as desilting, anaerobic digestion and facultative filtration units. The anaerobic digestion stage is made upof baffle and anaerobic filter for accommodating sludge and providing a more intimate contact between anaerobic biomass andsewage which improves treatment performance. The anaerobic unit is fitted with locally woven baskets prefilled with packingmaterials. The aim is to strengthen the biological treatment process at this stage. The Facultative Filtration unit of the model isalso packed with filtering media such as gravels (3-6mm in diameter) that is low in cost, and has a high durability to produceeffluent with lower pollutants and suspended solids content to meet Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standardsfor the discharge of domestic effluents.