Abstract: The present study deals with the performance evaluation of the UASB
reactor under varied organic loadingrate (OLR) for the treatment of paper mill
wastewater. The sludge granulation process started after 120 days from the
start-up period. Sludge granules size was found to be 0.8 mm at OLR of 1.72
kgCOD/(m^3 ˙ d), which reached maximum size of about 1.0
to 1.2 mm at OLR of 2.1 kg COD/(m^3 ˙ d). At the end of
initial OLR of 1.0 kg COD/(m^3 ˙ d) the VSS
concentration was 12.86 g VSS/L, which got increased to 38.05 g VSS/L at the
end of an OLR 2.1 process. Many times the pH observed was between 6.5 and 7.8,
which is more favorable for any anaerobicprocess. It is also found that pH
within the reactor increases along with the height of reactor. The total
maximum biogas production was found to be 0.40 L/g COD removals at OLR of 2.1
kg COD/(m^3 ˙ d) and the maximum BOD removal at this
stage was observed to be 90%.