title: Catalytic thermal treatment (catalytic thermolysis) of a rice grain-based biodigester effluent of an alcohol distillery plant.
abstract: The catalytic thermolysis (CT) process is an effective and novel approach to treat rice grain-based biodigester effluent (BDE) of the distillery plant. CT treatment of rice grain-based distillery wastewater was carried out in a 0.5 dm(3) thermolytic batch reactor using different catalysts such as CuO, copper sulphate and ferrous sulphate. With the CuO catalyst, a temperature of 95°C, catalyst loading of 4 g/dm(3) and pH 5 were found to be optimal, obtaining a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour removal of 80.4% and 72%, respectively. The initial pH (pHi) was an important parameter to remove COD and colour from BDE. At higher pHi (pH 9.5), less COD and colour reduction were observed. The settling characteristics of CT-treated sludge were also analysed at different temperatures. It was noted that the treated slurry at a temperature of 80°C gave best settling characteristics. Characteristics of residues are also analysed at different pH.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Chemical Engineering , Institute of Engineering and Science Indore , Indore 452001 , India.
authors.forename: Abhinesh Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Prajapati
authors.forename: Parmesh Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.forename: Bidyut
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazumdar
authors.forename: Rumi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Choudhary
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000378:metabolism; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D057168:Distillation; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007220:Industrial Waste; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D007220:Industrial Waste; D003300:Copper; C030973:cupric oxide
keywords: CuO; biodigester effluent; catalyst; catalytic thermolysis; chemical oxygen demand