Author : Bharati S. Shete and N. P. Shinkar

Dairy industry is one of the major food industries in India, and India ranks first among the maximum major milk producing nation. Of these, about 50% of the units are yet to attain satisfactory performance level with regard to installation and operation of effluent treatment plants. These wastewaters, if discharged without proper treatment severely pollute receiving water bodies. To treat these wastewaters combined with alternate energy source, environmentalists are developing a high rate anaerobic reactor. To minimize the economical burden of treatment on industrialist, having low cost anaerobic reactor with alternate energy source serves the best option. This paper reviews in brief the essential information on the fundamentals of anaerobic reactor treatment as well as technology. Also, it focuses on various anaerobic reactor configurations and operating conditions used for the treatment of dairy industry wastewaters so as to produce alternate energy source as BIO-GAS.

Keywords : Dairy industry, Fixed bed Reactor, Anaerobic Reactor, Anaerobic Digestion, Wastewater