A BRIEF NOTE ON

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF ANAEROBIC ZPHB -CSTR REACTOR OVER

ANAEROBIC COVERED LAGOON

FACTS/HISTORY: Covered Lagoon is prohibited in many developed countries

including developing country like India.

Any anaerobic reactor is engineered for the following TWO important aspects:

1 Holding back the bacterial population; and

2 Bringing good contact between raw wastewater and bacterial population

Anaerobic lagoon has been a cheapest option to hold the bacterial population by providing
huge volume to increase its retention time. However, this always comes with the
disadvantages of

1 Stratification / deposition of sludge at bottom.-BIGGEST PROBLEM.

2 Reduction in active volume of the lagoon over a period of time.
3 Chances of dead pockets and hence, active lagoon volume is much less than the
theoretical volume.
4 No temperature control due to large volumes especially at higher lagoon depths

Further, lagoons pose following problems with respect to second requirement of

optimum contact:
5 Since the surface area or lagoon bottom is very large, effective distribution of raw
incoming wastewater is not achieved and chances of short-circuiting are very high,
RESULTING IN LESS GAS PRODUCTION.
6 Agitation and mixing due to biogas bubbles is minimal in liquid volume in the
sloping sides zone as biogas bubbles liberated from the bottom of the lagoon
is not available for agitation in this zone.
7 Agitation due to biogas bubbles is very low due to its high surface area or bottom
area. Biogas release rate is very low in net effect in lagoons.
8 The agitation due to biogas rise rate is not uniform throughout its cross-sectional
surface area and also depth wise. Further, there is no uniform distribution of
incoming wastewater. As a compounding result, the contact between wastewater
and bacterial population is way far from the optimum level.
9 As an overall result, lower efficiency for COD and BOD removal and most
importantly, lower biogas or methane generation-Drastic reduction in Biogas
generation in couple of years.

This is an just opportunity to make quick money from CERs as investment is much less ,
this is not a long term/SUATAINABLE solution.

Anaerobic lagoon is probably the most primitive way of anaerobic reactor.

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In CSTR type reactor, the geometry of the reactor is chosen in such a way so as to get higher
biogas release rate per square meter area to achieve a higher degree of mixing / agitation.
The reactor is designed with a high liquid depth usually around 14 16 m to reduce surface
area and get higher agitation due to biogas bubbles. In addition to this, side entry agitators
are provided for still better mixing at bottom zone.

The totally enclosed M.S. reactor with agitators therefore offer many advantages as follows
as far as biomass retention is concerned:
10 Lower reactor volume due to higher loading rates
11 No stratification / deposition of sludge at bottom due to side entry agitators and
active mixing due to biogas bubbles
12 Uniform MLSS (biomass) concentration in the reactor and therefore no
reduction in active volume of the reactor
13 Better control of operating temperature due to enclosed reactor and lower volume /
surface area

Further, CSTR reactors have following distinct advantages with respect to second
requirement of optimum contact:
14 Due to top entry agitator for the draft tube where raw wastewater enters along with
recycled sludge and reactor content sucked in, uniform mixing of these three phases
i.e. recycled biomass, raw wastewater and reactor content is achieved and it is then
uniformly discharged at the reactor bottom. Side entry agitator further ensures
further mixing of this liquid with the reactor content in bottom zone before moving
upwards. The chances of short-circuiting are therefore are almost nil.
15 The agitation due to biogas rise rate is uniform throughout its cross-sectional
surface area and increases with its depth. Therefore, even in top zone, we get good
mixing.
16 Active biomass is recycled using Lamella Clarifier. It therefore helps to maintain
required biomass population. Excess sludge can be discharged / drained from the
reactor as and when required. In lagoon, you do not have this facility.
17 As an overall result, higher and consistent efficiency for COD and BOD removal and
most importantly, higher biogas or methane generation.
18 It offers quicker restart after shutdown as compared to lagoon.

LOAD MANAGEMENT:
With ZPHB cstr technology its possible to manage the POWER output as and when
required. If Higher KW is required during day time & Lower KW required during
night time this is easily managed with ZPHB technology. As with covered lagoon its
not easy.

Nowadays, the lagoons are covered with the membrane to collect the biogas. Obviously, all
the disadvantages of lagoon are still there even if the lagoon is covered with the membrane.

Most importantly, the existing lagoons are not leak-proof and sooner or later, Law
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Enforcing Agencies will ban such percolating lagoons to avoid ground water pollution. Mild
steel tank reactor is safe from such an eventuality and hence, better placed from
Environment protection point of view.

The membrane has a limited life and always poses a danger of getting torn out or wear out
and leaking biogas. In such a case, there would always be the health and safety hazards
involved.

The membrane is required to be replaced in 3 5 years as per our experience if the best
quality of membrane is used for covering the lagoon and for biogas collection.

To sum up, in long run, CSTR reactor always is a much better choice as compared to
covered lagoons FOR BIOGAS GENERATION , TREATMENT and also for Commercial
benefits .

Finally, Covered lagoons are ABSOLTE in India & other countries since more than 10
years.

Dr. Jyothi Hadli

Director- Research & Design - KIS Group

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