TREATMENT OF DISTILLERY SPENT WASH BY ANAEROBIC DIGESTION PROCESS

In this study, experiments were conducted to investigate the production of biogas from distillery spent wash by using anaerobic digestion process. A laboratory scale digester with working volume of 8.0L was used. The experimental protocol was defined to examine the effect of the change in the organic loading rate on the efficiency of the production of biogas. The digester was operated at different organic feeding rates of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 kg COD/m3.d. The reactor showed stable performance with highest biogas yield of 1150ml with percent COD reduction of around 63.04 % during loading rate of 1.5 kg COD/m3.d. As the time increased, percent COD removal and gas production increased and attained optimum value for each OLR. The maximum COD removal efficiency and gas produced on 30th, 60th and 88th day were 79.72%, 71.29%, 63.04 % and 451mL, 815mL, 1150mL. Based on data from this study, implementation of anaerobic digestion as the method of waste treatment leads to the regional utilization of renewable energy resources, energy requirements and costs