Characterization and treatability of aerobic bacterial thermophilically treated wastewater by a conventional activated sludge and granular activated carbon

Removal kinetics of acetone and MIBK from a complex industrial wastewater by an acclimatized activated sludge

“…As mentioned elsewhere [16,17] and shown above, the activated sludge utilized as seed had a demonstrated ability to biodegrade acetone and MIBK down to the MDL of 10 g/L for acetone and 5 g/L for MIBK. The return activated sludge TSS in the pilot scale system at the time of the biodegradation studies was 5430 mg/L and the VSS:TSS ratio for the system was 0.7 while the acetone and MIBK concentrations in the initial seed sludge were at their respective MDLs.…”

“…These results clearly demonstrated that the biological sludges in this system were acclimatized to the wastewater matrix and had been able to biodegrade acetone and MIBK. It must be additionally noted that this complex wastewater did not only comprise of the readily biodegradable VOC such as acetone and MIBK, but also varying concentrations of aniline, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, diphenylamine, and toluene were also present [17]. The characterization of this wastewater revealed that only 36% of the influent wastewater-dissolved organic carbon concentration could be accounted for by the total VOC and semi-volatile organic compounds [17], that highlights the complexity of this wastewater matrix.…”

“…It must be additionally noted that this complex wastewater did not only comprise of the readily biodegradable VOC such as acetone and MIBK, but also varying concentrations of aniline, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, diphenylamine, and toluene were also present [17]. The characterization of this wastewater revealed that only 36% of the influent wastewater-dissolved organic carbon concentration could be accounted for by the total VOC and semi-volatile organic compounds [17], that highlights the complexity of this wastewater matrix. In review of Table 1, the loadings to the system observed here are greater than those that would be experienced in a pulp mill, as described by Barton et al [19] with 2.6 g acetone/kg VSS day and 0.13 g MIBK/kg VSS day.…”

“…This would then imply that the Barton et al [19] study would have had a much greater active fraction of biomass, whereas the active fraction of the biomass in this study would have been significantly lower. Additionally, the pulp mill influent experiments were operated at 30 • C, where the present work was performed at room temperature of approximately 20 • C. Furthermore, the influent wastewater used in the present work has been reported to contain substantial amounts of VSS [16,17] that may not contribute to active biomass. However, it should be mentioned that the influent VSS of the wastewater utilized in the present work does not contribute a significant BOD fraction.…”

“…The influent wastewater was characterized by containing varying concentrations of acetone and MIBK. Samples of acclimatized biomass were taken directly from the return activated sludge of the operating pilot scale-activated sludge system [16,17].…”