Treatment of high strength wastewater from fruit juice industry using integrated anaerobic/aerobic system Original Research Article

This work aimed to study the treatment of wastewater generated from fruit juice industry (24–30 m3/batch). Three treatment schemes have been investigated. The first treatment scheme was a batch activated sludge (AS) system and was operated at different aeration time up to 48 h. The second scheme was two-stage up-flow anaerobic sponge reactors (UASRs). Two-stage UASRs were operated at a total hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 13 h corresponding to an organic loading rate (OLR) of 8.7 kg COD/m3 d. While, the third treatment scheme consisted of a two-stage UASR followed by an AS system which was operated at three different HRTs namely 10, 12, and 14 h.