This study aimed to investigate an integrated system that can deal with different pharmaceutical wastewaters. Pharmaceutical wastewater was subjected to biological, chemical and advanced oxidation according to its pollutant’s nature. Wastewater with high total suspended solids (TSS 480 mg/L) was subjected to a conventional chemical treatment process utilizing different coagulants. The best results were obtained by using calcium oxide and alum added with calcium oxide where the removal efficiency of COD was 46.8% and 51%. Highly loaded pharmaceutical wastewater (COD 9700 mg/L, BOD/COD 0.16) had been subjected to Fenton oxidation, the removal of COD reached 80.4%, and the ratio of BOD/COD is enhanced to 0.6. Photocatalysis by using different nanomaterials was applied to pharmaceutical wastewater containing 10 mg/L of phenols. Phenol is completely removed by using mesoporous TiO2 after 90-min irradiation and after 120 min in the case of TiO2/P25 and TiO2/UV 100 nanocomposites, while it is removed by 40% in case of using mesoporous TiO2/Ta2O5. Effluent-treated water from previous routes was subjected to biological treatment and followed with disinfection by using UV as post-treatment. The final COD was 40, and it matches with the Egyptian practice code for water reuse in agriculture (ECP 501 in Egyptian code of practice for the use of treated municipal wastewater for agricultural purposes. The ministry of Housing Utilities and Urban Communities., n.d. No title, 2015). Results showed also using treated wastewater in irrigation of barley and bean seeds achieved germination ratio up to 71% in barely and 70% in bean compared with that irrigated with Nile water, which reached 70% and 75%, while it was about 16.6% and 30% in case of irrigation with untreated wastewater (Jeong et al. in Water (Switzerland). 10.3390/w8040169, 2016).
Amylases are a group of commercially important enzymes with various clinical, medical and biotechnological applications. The current study aims to optimize the agitation and aeration (oxygen transfer) conditions for α-amylase production by Aspergillus flavus using water hyacinth extract; as an available waste and very cheap nutritional substance, in a lab scale stirred tank bioreactor (submerged fermentation). Data showed that the maximal cell biomass and enzyme specific activity were reached at low aeration rate (0.5 v/v/m) and moderate agitation speed (200 rpm). The maximum specific amylase production rate has been reached after 24 hrs. In addition, it has been confirmed that scaling-up Aspergillus flavus does not, inversely, affect α-amylase productivity compared with flask level production. Aspergillus flavus has been approved as promising fungal isolate for production of a-amylase using water hyacinth for application in many fields.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.