The Use of Light Expandend clay Aggregates as a Biological Support inWastewater Treatment

The moving bed biological reactor (MBBR) has recently been used in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment. The process used in this project involves a kind of Bio-Filter with light packing. In this paper, the usage of a particular kind of mineral packing called ‘Leca’ (Light Expanded Clay Aggregate) as a biological support in the treatment of wastewater is examined. By changing the inlet flow and applying a different HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) in different wastewater COD, the system is placed under examination. Diagrams are made by regularly evaluating COD on the outlet wastewater. The artificial wastewater, with sugar beet factory wastewater, was made in the COD Concentration Range of 800 to 3200 mg/lit and with three different retention times of 12,16 and 24 hours and injected into reactor. The mean value of COD removal is in the range of 66.6% to 79.2% according to the diagrams presented in the article. Also the BOD removal is established in inlet wastewater with a COD Concentration of 3200 mg/lit in all three retention times (24, 16 and 12) as 71%, 61% and 60.2%. In order to calculate the biomass in the system, at a HRT of 12 hours, a substrate with COD concentration of 2000 mg/lit was made and the sample was collected after 36 hours. Hence, the partnership between attached growth and submerged growth are approximately 78.23 % and 21.7% for evaluating the application of supports.