Page History

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During January 2017, a proposal for a novel UASB reactor was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency P3 competition. This novel UASB reactor would be prefabricated, operated electricity-free, and affordable for small communities in the global south. Two innovative components of this UASB reactor is the submerged lid and plate settlers. The Spring 2017 UASB team tested the efficiency of these two elements and found that the submerged lid has the capacity to be gas-tight and therefore should be part of the UASB reactor. However, the results of the plate settler tests were inconclusive and the test should be repeated to determine if plate settlers improve solids (granule) retention.

Fall 2017

The work of the Fall 2017 continued to build upon previous work done by previous UASB teams. Following the plan outlined from the January 2017 P3 Student Design competition, design work, in Python, on the four innovations began.

Summer 2017

The Summer 2017 UASB team worked on conlusively determining the need for plate settlers in the proposed pilot-scale design. Over the length of the summer, the bench-scale reactors were kept running to establish steady state conditions in the sludge bed. In this time, different reactor geometries were tested to determine optimal reactor designs that would improve SRT while preventing overdesign that would be time consuming and costly in fabricating the pilot scale design. The team ultimately determined that capture velocity may be maintained on the same order of magnitude as the upflow velocity prevent granule escape.

Fall 2017

The Fall 2017 UASB team has worked the pilot scale UASB design and working on the EPA P3 Proposal Phase 2 application. We have been communicating with the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility, hereafter referred to as the IAWWTF, about housing a pilot scale UASB that is similar in design to the 1 L/s plant. We also worked on the bottom inlet geometry of the UASB as well as the gas lid design and capture method.

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