ANAEROBIC BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR THE TREATMENT OF WASTEWATERS - A REVIEW

Anaerobic biomethanation is an emerging field of environmental biotech nology, which is now increasingly being used for the treatment of dome stic and industrial wastewaters. This has been possible because of a b etter understanding of the microbial consortia and the introduction of novel reactor designs. Biological methane formation is a complex proc ess involving coordinate participation of at least three trophic group s of bacteria. Major biochemical transformations are hydrolysis and fe rmentation of polymers, conversion of fermentation products to acetate and formation of methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. In last tw o decades, several reactor configurations have been developed to retai n slow growing anaerobic microorganisms in the reactor which have led to the application of this technology for the treatment of dilute as w ell as concentrated wastewaters. In India, under Ganga Action Plan, do mestic wastewater treatment using this technology has been initiated i n at least two cities of Uttar Pradesh. In this paper, microbial and b iochemical aspects, environmental factors: affecting this process as w ell as different reactor configurations used for anaerobic treatment o f wastewaters are briefly discussed.