Abstract

• In this work, the physico-chemical characteristics of wastewater effluent from Makro Co, Ltd, fish processing industry, Tharketa Township, were systematically analyzed. The effluent from draining steps of Platu Fish processing unit was collected. It was observed that the characteristics of effluent highly depend on the type of processing undertaken. One of the main task of anaerobic digestion is the conversion of organic matter to biogas. Therefore, bench scale anaerobic filter reactor was fabricated to treat fish processing wastewater for production of biogas. Biogas consisted of CH4 (50 %-75 %), CO2 (25 %-45 %) and few by-products such as H2S (<1%) analyzed by the experiments were conducted at various the Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) ( 6 hr,12 hr, 24 hr, 36hr and 48 hr) , pH (6,7,8)and different influent COD concentration (COD = 6000 ± 200 mg/L ,10000± 200mg/L,16000 ± 200mg/L and 20000 ± 200mg/L). The maximum gas-production from a given amount of raw material depends on the type of substrate and other parameters such as changes in ambient temperature. The methane content also depends on the influent COD concentration. The maximum amount of biogas has been yielded for the reactor with influent COD concentration of 20000 ± 200 mg/L operating for 48 hr in the neutral pH.