Textile biological sludge treatability and biogas production in UASB reactor under different temperatures

The aim of this work was to evaluate the behavior of a laboratory-scale UASB reactor (16 L) in the treatment of textile biological sludge with biogas production, operating at different temperatures - 35 (mesophilic), 45 and 55 degrees C (thermophilic) -, with constant hydraulic retention time of 24 h. The UASB reactor was able to treat the textile sludge, being positively influenced by increasing temperature, with greater removals in thermophilic temperatures and high removal rates of all monitored physical and chemical parameters, chemical oxygen demand (COD) (97% at 45 and 55 degrees C), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (95% at 45 degrees C and 94% at 55 degrees C), total phosphorus (P-total) (95% at 45 and 55 degrees C) and total nitrogen (N-total) (94% at 45 and 55 degrees C). As for biogas production and methane concentration, the highest values were observed at 45 degrees C. Based on the results, textile sludge treatability and biogas production in UASB are confirmed, with best performance at 45 degrees C.