Biological Treatment of Dairy Wastewater by Sequencing Batch Reactor

A bench scale aerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) was investigated to treat the wastewater from an industrial milk factory. The reactor was constructed from plexi glass material and its volume was 22.5 L. The reactor was supplied with oxygen by fine bubble air diffuser. The reactor was fed with milk factory and synthetic wastewater under different operational conditions. The COD removal efficiency was achieved more than 90%, whereas COD concentration varied from 400 to 2500 mg/l. The optimum dissolved oxygen in the reactor was 2 to 3 mg/l and MLVSS was around 3000 mg/l. Easy operation, low cost and minimal sludge bulking condition make the SBR system an interesting option for the biological medium strength industrial wastewater treatment. The study demonstrated the capability of aerobic SBR for COD removal from dairy industrial wastewater.