Performance Assessment of a UASB Reactor Coupled with Polymeric Filter Media for Nutrient Removal

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of the UASB reactor coupled with polymeric filter media as a post-treatment unit. The UASB reactor achieved the steady-state condition after 100 days of operation. The COD removal efficiency was 85.54 ± 6.53%, and biogas production (methane 75.5 ± 10.25 and carbon dioxide 25 ± 10.5) at the optimum temperature of 30 ± 5ºC, HRT 6.5 hr, and OLR 0.731 ± 0.163 kg COD/m³/d was observed. The effluent of the UASB reactor contains nutrients (TP and TKN), which require further treatment for their removal. The post-treatment of effluent of the UASB reactor was done at the optimized flow rate of 100 ml/hr and bed height of 20 cm for nutrient removal by polymeric filter media (chitosan-agarose cryogel). It was validated by Thomas Kinetic plot with R² > 0.85.