Performance Evaluation of Fluidised Bed Biofilm Reactor using Kaldnes K1 for Domestic Wastewater

removal of pollutants is an increasingly important goal in Sewage Treatment Plant. Practical and cost-effective biological pollutant removal technologies are needed, especially in older plants with limited space for expansion and in constructions exceeding 20,000m2 should have on-site facilities in their premises for collection, treatment and facilities for reuse or safe disposal of sewage. Treating wastewater using Fluidised Bed Biofilm Reactor (FBBR) is a technique that has hailed as the most important significant development in wastewater treatment. The application of FBBR technology for wastewater treatment is a breakaway from traditional technology since it combines the best features of activated sludge process and trickling filter. FBBR, which combines suspended growth and attached growth processes by adding free floating biofilm carriers into the aeration tank is highly an effective biological treatment process and has attracted significant interest in the field of wastewater. This paper presents removal of organics, suspended solids and nutrients from domestic wastewater with Kaldnes K1 in FBBR. A laboratory scale FBBR model was fabricated in order to study the performance of FBBR in treating domestic wastewater with respect to operational parameters such as percent filling and HRT. The study was carried out, the biological treatment process by optimizing the percent filling of 10%, 20% and 30% to the reactor volume at HRT 3hours, 4hours and 5hours. The operation of the reactor was operated in a continuous mode. Samples were collected at regular intervals and test for removal efficiency of pollutants were analyzed. Monitoring the results, it was found that 30% filling rate at 5hr, Kaldnes was efficient. Classical nitrification and denitrification and the typical enhanced biological phosphorus removal process were achieved in the reactor with 30% Kaldnes filling rate at 5hr, which operated with a volumetric organic loading of 0.84gCOD/L/d. The removal efficiencies for BOD, COD, TSS, Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus were found to be 87%, 80%, 84%, 51% and 61% respectively. Kaldnes media’s removal efficiency was practical and a cost-effective carrier for organics, suspended solids and nutrients removal in domestic wastewater.