Feasibility of using Acti-zyme in anaerobic biological sewage treatment

Abstract

Acti-zyme, a biocatalyst has been used for vast applications such as wastewater treatment, drains cleaning and odor elimination for the past 50 years [1]. Acti-zyme has been reported to treat wastewater either aerobically or aerobically, reducing wastewater contaminants properties such as total nitrogen (TKN), total phosphates (TP), nitrates, ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) by >40%. Acti-zyme also increases dissolved oxygen (DO) by >100% in treated wastewater promoting aquatic life [1]. The use of Acti-zyme like any biological catalyst under anaerobic conditions has the potential to favor biogas production [2]. On the other hand sewage, a form of wastewater is being generated every day resulting in huge quantities of sewage sludge. There is need for sustainable and economical ways of treating this sewage; harnessing biogas being one of them [3]. Biogas is mainly composed of methane and can be used to meet electricity demands as well as other energy requirements of the sewage plants [4]. Acti-zyme therefore poses an economic and environmentally friendly way of treating sewage utilizing its biochemical properties [1]. This study focused on biochemical analysis of Acti-zyme so that its use in sewage treatment as a biological technique can be validated. Furthermore, application of Acti-zyme in sewage treatment, sludge digestion, biogas and biosolids production were investigated.