Biological treatment of synthetic dairy wastewater in FBBR

The dairy industry produces large amounts of wastewater that have higher potential to pollute environment if not properly treated. It is characterized by high levels of BOD, COD, organic and inorganic nutrients. This study focuses on the aerobic treatment of synthetic dairy wastewater in fluidized bed bioreactor using low density bio carrier wood particle at optimum conditions of temperature and pH and also the identification of the microbes which are effective for the degradation of the dairy waste. The microbial isolates were tentatively identified to be Lactobacillus and Bacillus. It is observed that with the increase in influent COD there is a decrease in the percentage COD reduction of the effluent The COD reduction at optimum temperature 30 degrees C and pH 7 is found to be 84% and BOD removal to be 75% efficient for an incubation period of 120 h.