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B. Tech Thesis on

WASTEWATER TREATMENT USING INVERSE FLUIDIZATION UNIT BY

ALGAE

For partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Chemical Engineering

Submitted by: Nikita Dewangan

111CH0067

Under the guidance of

Prof. Abanti Sahoo

Department of Chemical Engineering

National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, Odisha.

1
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Wastewater treatment in Inverse
Fluidization Unit using Algae ” submitted by Nikita Dewangan , Roll No: 111CH0067 in
partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of B. Tech Degree in Chemical Engineering
at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela is an authentic work carried out by him under
my supervision and guidance.

To the best of my knowledge, the matter embodied in the report has not been submitted to any
other University/Institute for the award of any Degree.

Supervisor: __________________
Prof. Abanti Sahoo Signature of Supervisor
Associate Professor
Chemical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela
Rourkela-769008, Odisha

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Words are only representation of my regards and gratitude that I have towards my mentor.
As a matter of fact, without co-operation no thought could be coined into action. Consistent
motivation and invaluable support throughout the project is an issue that cannot be
quantitatively measured.

It gives me immense pleasure to express my sincere and deepest sense of gratitude that I had
an opportunity of working under the guidance thus I sincerely thank my Supervisor,
Prof. Abanti Sahoo for guiding me throughout the project by making me to understand the
work and providing me with all the facilities necessary to complete the project successfully.

I am also grateful to Prof. Pradip Rath, Head of the Department, Chemical Engineering for
providing me the necessary opportunities for the completion of my project.
I am also grateful to all the faculty members and staff for helping me to successfully complete
my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank my friends for helping me to collect necessary requirement for the
project and support me morally.

By
Nikita Dewangan
111CH0067
Department of Chemical Engineering,
NIT, Rourkela, Odisha, India

3
Table of Contents
NOMENCLATURE ........................................................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER -1 ................................................................................................................................... 8
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 Inverse fluidization process ...................................................................................................... 8
1.2 Why inverse fluidisation technique and not the conventional one? ................................. 9
1.3 Type of Algae and why it is used in waste water treatment process. ............................... 9
1.4 Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) .................. 11
LITERATURE SURVEY ................................................................................................................ 12
CHAPTER -3 ................................................................................................................................. 14
MATERIALS AND METHODS................................................................................................... 14
3.1 Materials Required:................................................................................................................ 14
3.2 Procedure for growing algae: ..................................................................................... 15
3.3 Experimentation..................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.1 Design of IFBR: ....................................................................................................... 16
3.3.2 Experimental Procedure for operation in IFBR: ........................................................ 17
3.4.1 Materials required: .............................................................................................................. 19
3.4.2 Procedure: ................................................................................................................ 19
3.4.3 Sample Calculation ................................................................................................... 20
3.5 BOD Analysis ................................................................................................................. 20
3.5.1 Materials Required: .................................................................................................. 20
3.5.2 Procedure for preparation of solution: ....................................................................... 20
3.5.3 Procedure: ................................................................................................................ 21
3.5.4 Procedure for Dissolved oxygen analysis:........................................................................ 22
3.5.4 Sample Calculation for BOD .................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER - 4 ................................................................................................................................ 23
RESULT AND DISCUSSION....................................................................................................... 23
4.1 For non-sterilized wastewater after treatment with Chlorella Scenedesmus at Vb/Vr = 0.5 23
4.2 For wastewater (sterilized) after treatment with Chlorella sp. at Vb/Vr = 0.5.................... 25
4.3 Algae Identification.......................................................................................................... 28
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................. 29
REFERENCES:............................................................................................................................. 30

4
List of tables
Table No Title of Table Page
No :
1 Nutrients for growing chlorella Scenedesmus 14
2 Composition of wastewater obtained from Rourkela steel plant, 15
Rourkela, Orissa.
3 Variation of COD with time for non-sterilized wastewater 23
4 BOD analysis of non-sterilized wastewater 24
5 Variation of COD with time for sterilized wastewater 25
6 BOD analysis of sterilized wastewater 26

List of Figure
Figure No. Title of the figure Page
number
1 Structure of algae and basics compounds produced by algae 10

2 Algae culture after transferring its colonies from petri plate 16

3 Algae after 10 days growth 16
4 Algae after 1 months growth 16
5 Outline IFBR unit 17
6 Fluidization process 18
7 Variation of COD with time for non-sterilized wastewater by Algae 23

8 Variation of BOD with time for non-sterilized wastewater by Algae 24

9 Variation of COD with time for sterilized wastewater by Algae 25

10 Variation of BOD with time for sterilized wastewater by Algae 26

11 Chlorella 28
12 Scenedesmus 28

5
NOMENCLATURE

COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand

BOD: Biological Oxygen Demand

IFBR : Inverse Fluidization Bed Reactor

EDTA: Ethylene –diamine- tetra- acetic acid

FAS : Ferrous Ammonium Sulphate

LPM : Litres per minute

hr : Hour

Vb : Bed volume

VR : Reactor volume

6
ABSTRACT

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) play important role
in determining the quality of wastewater. Hence it is necessary to calculate COD and BOD of
water before setting up of wastewater treatment plant. Algae has been used for decades for
various purposes. It is one of the important characteristics is to nitrogen, phosphorus etc., which
are harmful for drinking and other purposes but they act as food for algae. Thus in this study
COD and BOD analysis is done for sterilized and non-sterilized wastewater after and before
treating it with algae in inverse fluidization under aerobic condition, for different time interval
and found that percentage reduction in COD and BOD for sterilized wastewater gives greater
value than non-sterilized water the reason for this difference being the decrease in the
competition between algae and other micro-organism which are present in raw wastewater.
And COD % reduction is 65-70 % and BOD % reduction is 68.75- 70.5%.

Keywords: Chlorella Scenedesmus, COD, BOD, wastewater, inverse fluidization unit

7
CHAPTER -1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Inverse fluidization process

Among many conventional processes available for wastewater treatment inverse fluidisation
process which is a three phase fluidisation process has been widely used for many applications
such as hydro-treating and conversion of heavy petroleum and synthetic, crystaliization,food
processing,biomedical engineering, methanol production, treatment of municipal sewage
wastewater and similarly many processes. Some of the benefits which one’s process can gain
if this unit is used are easy to handle, less consumption of power, low space requirement, less
chemical waste and eco-friendly as it does not produce any chemical as its waste after the
process. Indeed the most significant feature of it is high efficiency as compared to the other
conventional fluidization processes.

The name inverse fluidisation comes from the direction of flow of liquid and gas which depends
upon the density of the particle. Here the liquid is fed continuously from the top using pump if
it is a continuous process and gas is released from using sparger form the bottom after it has
been compressed in a compressor, thus it makes the process counter current flow process. In
this counter current flow process the density of the particle is lesser than that of the liquid which
is in a continuous phase.

With the rapid growth in population and industrialization is leading to the depletion of natural
resources and causing major environmental problems such water pollution, soil pollution etc.
The environmental problem which is of our concern is water pollution which is mainly caused
due to the discharge of heavy metals from steel ,dairy and fertilizer industries and nitrogen
,phosphorus, sulphides and chlorides . Due to rapid use of nitrogen in fertilizer industries an
excessive amount of it may cause several health related problems and causes eutrophication
and acidification of water bodies. To overcome this process there are various methods which
have been used for decades but the question arises is which process is more economical and
numerous benefits over others.

8
1.2 Why inverse fluidisation technique and not the conventional one?

 The bio film thickness which grows very fast on the surface of the solid particle ,if
provided proper conditions .Sometimes it also happens that bio film thickness increases
so much that it causes bloom and proper mixing and growth of film is degraded. Thus
some new particle have to be added to provide new surface to the biomass from time to
time. The advantage of IFBR lies here that it controls bio film thickness in a very narrow
range.
 Due to power failure sometimes it needs to start the fluidization process from the
beginning itself but with the IFBR this problem is almost sorted out as we can re-
fluidize the process.
 The growth of microorganism is very faster as seen from the literature survey due to
high mass transfer rate.
 Carryover of particle is minimized due to low particle or solid attrition.

1.3 Type of Algae and why it is used in waste water treatment process.

Algae involves process which is very similar to the green plants and the most common
process in plant is photosynthesis. Algae absorbs sunlight which is a source of carbon di
oxide for it and convert it into oxygen and photosynthesis takes place through chlorophyll
present in it. Algae size varies from single cell to branched size of visible length. Some of
the algae which grow in waste water are chlorella sp., Spirulina sp., Microactinium sp., and
some more. The treatment of wastewater can be achieved by biodegradation of it using
bacteria or algae. Biodegradation converts organic matter into smaller molecules which
requires oxygen for the process. And supply of oxygen is tedious and costly. Thus it is
better to use natural abundance source of oxygen which can give lot of benefits apart from
biodegradation. Algae absorbs various compounds and nutrients such as nitrogen,
phosphorus and metals required for its growth.

9
Figure -1: Structure of algae and basics compounds produced by algae (Source: Oilgae.com )

In all other conventional method for wastewater treatment which does not uses algae the
treatment process produces lots of sludge which eventually goes to off-site for its disposal and
maintaining sludge which is diurnal and seasonal is a costly process. Some of the benefits
which is prominent in today’s century are reduction in green -house -gases and production of
useful products from end product which is a highly rich nutrient containing algae itself and can
further be used for production of biofuel and diet supplementary. Aeration is an energy
intensive process and accounts for 45-70 % of total energy cost of treatment plant. Algae
consumes CO2 in a larger amount than it is released during the process. Chlorella Scenedesmus
is one among the fastest growing genus of single celled green algae, includes 14%-22% of
lipid, 51%-58% of protein, 12%-17% of carbohydrates, and 4%-5% of nucleic acid.

Algae can act as a bio-filter for nutrient laden, CO2 laden, and can convert low oxygen water
into highly rich oxygen water. Thus any wild algae can be grown in the area where the
wastewater is reserved. End use of algae can be in production of biodiesel or biofuel as
compared to soy seed (60-100 gallons), coconut (230 gallons), and palm oil (500 gallons) can
produce 5000 or more gallons per acre of area.

10
1.4 Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD)

COD test is used to measure the amount of organic compounds in water in other words we can
say that it is the amount of oxygen required to chemical oxidize the pollutants. The applicable
range of COD is 3 – 900 mg/ml.

BOD test is used to determine the amount of oxygen required by the microorganism to break
the organic material present in the sample at a particular temperature over a specific period of
time. Generally the time taken for test is 5days at a temperature of 20 degree Centigrade. It is
also a principle test which predicts the biodegradability of any water or wastewater sample.

The efficiency of wastewater is measured by measuring the effluent BOD and influent BOD of
the sample taken. Any effluent to be discharged into the water should have BOD less than
30mg/ml.

COD value is always greater than BOD value .It is found from the research that the COD values
for domestic and industrial wastewater is about 2.5 times the BOD value. The ratio of BOD to
COD if greater than 0.8 then it is considered that the water is highly polluted and amenable to
biological treatment.

11
CHAPTER -2

LITERATURE SURVEY

1. Chan et al in 2013 worked on heavy metal uptake by three types of algae

Chlorella sp., Spirulina sp., and other algae found in wastewaters of industries.
They used untreated and autoclaved effluents as a substrate and observed that
microalgae removed up to 81.7% of copper and 94.1 % of zinc and also found
that higher heavy metal removal is obtained in autoclaved effluents because the
presence of microbes in untreated effluents put negative impact on the removal
efficiency.
2. Deviram et al in 2011 used the microbial mats for the study using different
species of algae such as Ulva sp., Cladophora sp. and Chlorella sp. and observed
COD and BOD in three different types of process free cell process, batch process
and continuous process and found that better results were developed in
continuous process with 52.1(COD) and 50.8(BOD) along with changes in
dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH.
3. Kim et al. in 2010 studied the capability of Chlorella vulgaris to remove nitrogen
in the form of ammonia and ammonium ion from local wastewater. The
wastewater effluent leaving the plant was found to include high concentrations of
nitrogen (7.7± 0.19 mg/L) (ammonia (NH3) and ammonium ion (NH4+)) and
total inorganic carbon (58.6±0.28 mg/L) at pH 7, and to be suitable for growing
Chlorella vulgaris. When Chlorella vulgaris was cultivatedin a batch mode under
a closed system, half of the nitrogen concentration was dramatically removed in
48 h after a 24h lag-phase period.
4. Kothari et al in 2012 studied the physical and chemical parameters of dairy
wastewater quality such as nitrates, sulphides, phosphates, chlorides and
hardness. They founded that nitrogen and phosphate removal is achieved to be 49
% and 83 % respectively.

12
5. Sheekh et al in 2012 investigated the treatment efficiency of wastewater by using
single or mixed cultures of cyanobacteria and they found that single culture was
better than mixed culture. The lower efficiency of mixed culture is due to
competition between cultures for nutrients and also found that organic matter
removal (COD) is between 20 – 57.1 %.
6. Sokol et al in 2009 performed the wastewater treatment process in inverse
fluidization unit using biomass and observed the changes in COD value with time
in hour for various ratios of settled bed volume to the reactor volume (Vb/VR) and
air velocity Ug .
7. Sriram et al in 2012 highlighted a review on the current scenario in the
cultivation of microalgae in wastewater for nutrient removal.
8. Yadavalli et al. in 2013 studied the removal of organic content and nutrients
from dairy effluents by chlorella sp., and euglena sp. In both open and closed
systems and found that NH4, +N was reduced to 96% by Chlorella sp. than
Euglena sp.
9. Zhigang et al in 2013 studied the effect of light emitting diode’s wavelength and
intensities on the microalgae biological wastewater treatment system .They
founded that the optimum light intensity is 2000 μmol /m2*s and experimental
illumination time is 120 h. And the species was successfully able to purify under
this optimum condition.

13
CHAPTER -3

MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 Materials Required:

1. Algae
-Chlorella Scenedesmus and local algae from pond
-Quantity used: 250 ml
Table -1: Nutrients required for growing Chlorella Scenedesmus
S.No. Compounds Name Quantity per litre
1. Fog’s Medium
- Magnesium sulphate hepta-hydrate(MgSO4.7H2O) 0.2 g
- Dipotassium hydrogen phosphate(K2HPO4) 0.2 g
- Micronutrients solution 1 ml
- Calcium chloride hydrated (CaCl2. H2O) 0.1g
- Fe-EDTA solution 5.0 ml
- Distilled water 1.0 L
- Agar(Difco) 12.0 g

2. Micronutrient solution
- Hydrated Manganese Chloride (MnCl2.4H2O) 181.0 mg
- Boric Acid (H3BO3) 286.0 mg
- Zinc sulphate hepta hydrate (ZnSO4 .7H2O) 22.0mg
- Sodium Molybdate (Na2MoO4.2H2O) 39.0 mg
- Copper Sulphate penta-hydrate(CuSO4.5H2O) 8.0 mg
- Distilled water 100.0ml
3. Fe-EDTA
In hot water 745.0 mg of Na2EDTA was dissolved and then
557.0 mg of FeSO4.7H2O was added. The solution was boiled
for few minutes and the volume was made to 100.0 ml.

14
2. Wastewater from Rourkela Steel plant
- Quantity used: 1 litre
Table -2: Composition of wastewater obtained from Rourkela Steel plant, Rourkela, Orissa
Component Amount in ppm
Phenol 70 - 72
Sulphate 76.8
Chloride 192-223
Nitrite 0.2 -0.34
Ammonia 116.8
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen(organic nitrogen) 246.6

3. Polypropylene balls
-Density: 910 kg/m3
4. Glass-wares

3.2 Procedure for growing algae:

1. Petri dishes containing growth medium with 1 – 1.5 % agar medium was prepared. And
the agar medium should be ½ to 2/3 the depth of dish.
2. 1-2 drops of algae sample from the slant was placed near the periphery of the agar. The
wire loop was sterilized using burner.
3. The petri plate was covered and sealed with parafilm. Then it was incubated in a low
light at constant temperature.
4. The colonies were selected which are free of other organism for further isolation
process.
5. The sample was removed using sterile wire loop and placed in a drop of sterile culture
media on a glass slide.
6. Then the species was checked microscopically for whether the species is uni-algal or
not.
7. The streaking procedure was repeated with a single colony and again allowed to
colonies to develop.
8. The second streaking is done to reduce the possibility of bacterial contamination and
species containing more than one algal species.

15
 9. Then the selected colonies were transferred to the liquid nutrient medium and allowed
to grow in an incubator shaker for temperature maintenance of around 20 – 25 ̊C . The
alternative for maintenance of temperature is by keeping it in an AC room and for
stirring keep it in a magnetic stirrer at low rpm.
10. After 5 -10 days growth is observed in a beaker of liquid medium and the growth
substantially increases but pH and nutrient level in a medium must be checked and
maintained.

Figure 2 : Figure 3 : Figure 4 :

Algae culture after transferring Algae after 10 days growth Algae after 1 months growth
its colonies from petri plate

3.3 Experimentation
Inverse Fluidisation Unit
3.3.1 Design of IFBR:
1. The unit consist of long perplexed glass tube –
 Height = 1.240 m
 Diameter = 10 cm
 Wall thickness = 3 mm
1. Centrifugal pump
 Power 0.5 HP
 Head = 14ft

16
 2. Calibrated Rotameter
 For water = 0-100 LPM
 For Gas = 0 -200 m3/hr
3. Manometer
 Number = 4
 Length = 1m
4. Circular pith distributed plate
5. Conical heads (at the top and bottom)
 Apex angle = 60 ̊
 Inner diameter = 10 cm
 Height = 30 cm

Figure – 5: Outline sketch of the IFBR unit

3.3.2 Experimental Procedure for operation in IFBR:

1. The column was loaded with some amount of polypropylene balls.

2. Fill the liquid storage tank with 10 litre of water and mix wastewater around 200 ml to
it. Then add 250 ml of algae sample to the tank and mix it very well.
3. Pump the water from liquid storage tank to the vertical unit with the liquid flow rate of
10 LPM and till certain height is reached in the bed measured from the scale stick to it
on the outer surface.

17
 4. The pressure drop across the test section is measured with the help of manometer
connected across the bed.
5. The flow rate of the gas is slowly increased to bring the bed into the state of mixing ,
as mixing provides better growth of microbes due to continuous interaction with each
other .
6. The bed continuously kept under light of intensity which is required for the growth of
algae.
7. The mixture of wastewater, algae and nutrients was kept in fluidization for hours and
sample was taken for COD and BOD analysis after 6hr, 24hr, 32 hr, 48hr, 96 hr,120 hr.
8. Two wastewater samples were taken untreated and sterilized wastewater for the
treatment.

(a) Fixed bed (b) Onset of fluidization (c) Turbulent fluidization

Figure -6: Experimental set up for hydrodynamic studies

18
3.4 COD Analysis

3.4.1 Materials required:

1. Potassium dichromate
2. Concentrated sulphuric acid
3. Ferroin indicator
4. Ferrous Ammonium Sulphate(FAS)
5. Mercuric sulphate
6. Distilled water
7. Glassware’s ( conical flask, beaker, heater, stirrer, measuring cylinder )

3.4.2 Procedure:
1. Potassium Dichromate (K2Cr2O7) solution
- 12.259 g of K2Cr2O7 was dissolved in 1000ml distilled water.
2. FAS solution
- 98 g of FAS is dissolved in distilled water and then 20ml of Conc. Sulphuric acid was
added and the solution is diluted to 1000ml
Molarity of FAS can be calculated as

∗ .
Molarity FAS = --------------------------------------------(1)

3. Now 20 ml of the sample was taken in a 500 ml flask

4. Then 10 ml of K2Cr2O7 was added to it.
5. 30 ml of conc.H2SO4 was added slowly and cautiously.
6. 0.4 gm of Mercuric sulphate was then added then the sample was heated at 120̊ C for
around 10 min.
7. Then the sample was cooled to room temperature
8. The solution was diluted to two times its volume with distilled water
9. Fill the burette with FAS solution and add 2-3 drops of Ferroin indicator to the diluted
solution and titrate it against FAS solution.
10. The end point of the titration is determined by sharp colour change from blue green to
reddish brown which persisted for 1 min.
11. Similarly the wastewater sterilized and untreated were also titrated to check the COD
before process.

19
3.4.3 Sample Calculation
Molarity of FAS = 0.1 M
 For Waste water before sterilization
COD = (A-B)*M*8*1000 / Volume of the sample used ---------------------------------------- (2)
(Source-APHA standard method for examination of water and wastewater, 20th edition,
Method 5220C)
Where;
A = Volume of FAS for blank = 13.4
B = Volume of FAS for sample = 3.0
M = molarity of FAS solution = 0.1 M
Volume of the sample used = 20ml
COD = 416 mg/ml
 For waste water after sterilization
COD measured = 380 mg/ml

3.5 BOD Analysis

3.5.1 Materials Required:

1. Potassium hydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4 )

2. Di-potassium hydrogen phosphate (K2HPO4)
3. Di-sodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4.7H2O )
4. Ammonium chloride (NH4Cl)
5. Magnesium sulphate hepta-hydrate (MgSO4.7H2O )
6. Calcium chloride (CaCl2 )
7. Ferric Chloride (FeCl3 .6H2O)
8. Sodium sulphite (Na2SO3)
9. Distilled water
10. Glassware’s (test tubes, beaker, conical flask)

3.5.2 Procedure for preparation of solution:

1. Phosphate buffer solution

20
 8.5 g of KH2PO4, 21.75 g of K2HPO4 , 33.4 g of Na2HPO4.7H2O and 1.7 g of NH4Cl
was dissolved in 500 ml distilled water and diluted it to 1000ml . Make sure that the pH is
adjusted to 7.2.
2. Magnesium Sulphate solution
22.5g MgSO4.7H2O was dissolved in distilled water and dilute it to 1 litre.

3. Calcium Chloride solution

27.5 g of CaCl2 was dissolved in 1000ml distilled water.
4. Ferric Chloride solution
0.25 g of Ferric chloride solution was dissolved in 1000ml of distilled water.
5. Sodium sulphite solution
1.575 g of sodium sulphite is dissolved in 1000ml of distilled water.

NOTE: All the solutions must be prepared daily because they are not stable.

3.5.3 Procedure:

1. The 20 ml sample was kept in 1 litre flask.

2. Then 1 ml magnesium sulphite solution ,1 ml calcium chloride solution and 1 ml ferric
chloride solution was added to 1 litre of distilled water.
3. If the solution are acidic or alkaline then it must be neutralised before use and it can be
done by adding sodium thio-sulphate solutions to it to destroy residual chlorine.
4. The sample must be diluted as follows:
 Strong water = 0.1 , 0.5 , or 1 %
 Settled domestic sewage = 1, 2.5 , or 5%
 Treated effluents = 5, 12.5 or 25 %
 River water = 25 to 100%
5. The sample was diluted with distilled water and mixed nicely.
6. The diluted sample was the taken in two BOD bottles.
7. The DO of diluted water and diluted wastewater was taken immediately.
8. The other two bottles were kept at 20 degree C for 3 – 5 days and the sample was
incubated.
9. After 3 days the DO of sample was taken.
10. The procedure for DO analysis follows this.

21
3.5.4 Procedure for Dissolved oxygen analysis:

1. The two BOD bottles were taken and 2 ml of alkali –iodize-azide was added to it below
the liquid level.
2. The bottle must completely air tight so that no air should enter into it. The sample was
mixed properly. The presence of oxygen is indicated by the appearance brownish –
orange cloud of precipitate or floc. This floc can be disappeared by turning the bottle
upside down and allowing it to settle.
3. Then 2 ml of sulphuric acid was added to it via a pipette holding it just above the surface
of the sample. Again the bottle is inverted after carefully plugging the stopper into it to
dissolve the floc. Then the sample is kept for 8 hr.
4. Filled the burette with sodium thiosulfate solution.
5. 2 ml starch solution was added so a blue colour forms.
6. The sample was titrated slowly till the end point .And end point is determined when
the blue colour disappears.
7. The concentration of dissolved oxygen can be determined by the number of millilitres
titrant used. As each ml of sodium thio-sulphate added equals 1 mg/l dissolved oxygen.

3.5.4 Sample Calculation for BOD

Initial DO of diluted sample, Do = 8.2

DO at the end of 3 day , D3 = 6.08
Blank correction, BC = 0.2
Volume of sample diluted ,Vd = 500 ml
Volume of sample taken , Vs = 20 ml
BOD = (Do – D3- BC)*Vd/Vs ---------------------------------------------------- (3)
(Source: APHA standard method for examination of water and wastewater,20th
edition, Method 5220C)
= (8.2 – 6.08- 0.2) *500/20
= 48mg/ml

22
CHAPTER - 4

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 For non-sterilized wastewater after treatment with Chlorella Scenedesmus at Vb/Vr = 0.5
Initial Value of COD before treatment is 416 mg/ml, pH = 6.7
After treatment the pH is 8.5 at the end of 192 hr
Table – 3: Variation of COD with time for non-sterilized wastewater
S.No: Number of Hours of COD in mg/ml
operation
1 0 416
2 6 400
3 24 346
4 48 277
5 72 236
6 168 149.76
7 192 146.6

450

400

350

300
COD IN MG/ML

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 50 100 150 200
TIME IN HOUR

Figure –7: Variation of COD with time for non-sterilized wastewater

23
Table -4 : BOD analysis of non-sterilized wastewater
S. Number of hours of operation BOD in mg/ml
No.:
1 0 48

2 72 28

3 144 15

60

50

40
BOD IN MG/ML

30

20

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
TIME IN HOURS

Figure -8: BOD vs time for non-sterilized wastewater

24
4.2 For wastewater (sterilized) after treatment with Chlorella sp. at Vb/Vr = 0.5
Initial value of pH before treatment is 8.3 and after treatment
After treatment pH was 8.9 for the total time duration of 192 hours.

Table -5: Variation of COD with time for sterilized wastewater

S. NO Number of hours of COD in mg/ml
operation
1 0 380
2 6 368
3 24 310
4 48 246.4
5 72 195.4
6 168 126
7 192 114

400

350

300
COD IN MG/ML

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
TIME IN HOURS

Figure – 9: COD vs time for sterilized wastewater

25
Table -6: BOD vs time for sterilized wastewater

S.NO. Number of hours of operation BOD in mg/ml

1 0 44

2 72 23

3 144 13

50

45

40

35

30
BOD IN MG/ML

25

20

15

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
TIME IN HOUR

Figure -10 BOD vs time for sterilized wastewater

26
Calculation of percentage reduction in COD and BOD after treating it with algae
% Reduction in COD for non-sterilized = [(initial value of COD- final value of
wastewater COD)/ initial value of COD] * 100
= (416 – 146.67 /416) *100
= 65 %
% Reduction in COD for sterilized = [(initial value of COD- final value of
wastewater COD)/ initial value of COD] * 100
= ((380 – 114) / 380) * 100
= 70 %

% Reduction in BOD for non-sterilized = [(initial value of BOD- final value of

wastewater BOD)/ initial value of BOD] * 100
= ((48 – 15) /48)*100
= 68.75 %

% Reduction in BOD for non-sterilized = [(initial value of BOD- final value of

wastewater BOD)/ initial value of BOD] * 100
= ((44-13)/44) * 100
= 70.5 %

Table –7: % Reduction in COD and BOD of Chlorella Scenedesmus with other species of
Algae
S.No. Name of the Algae species % Reduction of BOD % Reduction of COD

1 Nostoc Muscorum --- 20–57.1

(Ref. : 3 )
2 Chlorella. Pyrenoidosa 92 86
(Ref. :5)
3 Euglena 96 80
(Ref -12 )
4 Chlorella sp ------ 50.8
(Ref – 4 )
5 Chlorella Scenedesmus 68.75 70
(Species used for this project)

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4.3 Algae Identification
Algae Name: Chlorella Scenedesmus

Figure -11 :Chlorella(Microscopic view of chlorella viewed in the range of 10 micro m)

Figure – 12: Scenedesmus (Microscopic view of chlorella in the range of 10 micro m)

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

COD and BOD analysis of wastewater is one of the basic step which is needed to set up any
wastewater treatment plant and to control losses to the sewer system. Many ways of chemical
treating wastewater has been proved to be very expensive and produces harmful end product
which is very necessary to be avoided in today’s century. This study which includes treatment
of steel plant waste water with the most abundantly available resource i.e., algae shows a new
pathway to achieve two major goals of any wastewater treatment plant first being the economy
and second being the efficiency in reduction of harmful components present in industrial ,
domestic or municipal wastewater. Treatment in inverse fluidisation unit is very economical as
it very cheap to procure, easy to handle and require low power to operate and in addition to this
using Algae in it for degradation of hazardous components sorts out problems such as cost of
oxygen supply needed for conversion of organic compounds and moreover algae can further
be used as a source of biofuel and diet supplementary as some of the species are very effective
for it. Continuous mixing with the help of solid particles in fluidization unit helps Algae to
grow on its surface. Thus, this type of study is necessary before setting up any wastewater
treatment plant.

FUTURE WORK:
1. Measurement of the COD and BOD content of the outlet stream from the inverse
fluidization unit by varying parameter such as :
 Gas flow rate
 Concentration of effluent in water
 Different strains ( Spirulina and mix)
 Ration of volume of bed and volume of the reactor
2. Comparing this method of using algae with other biological methods.
3. Comparing it with other conventional method for waste water treatment.
4. Analysing the bio-hydrogen evolution from biomass under anaerobic condition

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