Ozonation of synthetic versus natural textile tannins: recalcitrance and toxicity towards Phaeodactylum tricornutum

A sound in-plant pollution control strategy can only be defined by paying due attention to bio-recalcitrance and toxicity. In this context the levels of toxicity and inert COD introduced to textile dyebath discharges by two alternative auxiliary chemicals, namely natural tannin (NT) and synthetic tannin (ST), were investigated. The effect of 40 minutes ozonation at 1,000 mg h(-1) at pH 3.5 on the segregated effluent streams containing the above-mentioned tannin formulations was evaluated in terms of changes in toxicity and recalcitrance. The effect of ozonation on the COD distribution of raw and ozonated NT and ST samples according to their molecular weight cut-offs was also assessed. Both untreated tannin formulations exerted high acute toxicity towards marine microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Moderate decrease in the toxicity levels of both tannins was observed upon ozonation. The raw NT formulation with a COD content more than twice that of its alternative raw ST had an initially inert soluble COD content of only 25 mg/L, while the initially inert COD was 135 mg/L for ST. As the initially inert soluble COD content of NT was considerably lower, this textile auxiliary did not need chemical pretreatment to improve its biodegradability. On the other hand, the initially inert soluble COD content of ST was reduced by 70% by ozone pretreatment. In terms of residual COD contents achievable after passing through a biological treatment system, raw NT and pretreated ST formulations yielded 100 and 95 mg/L COD, respectively. The highest proportion of COD (46% for NT and 88% for ST) was found in the <1 kDa range. The same fraction increased to 93% for NT after ozonation, while for ST no significant change was observed in the COD distribution of the molecular weight cut-offs after ozonation.

Combined chemical and biological oxidation of penicillin formulation effluent

Antibiotic formulation effluent is well known for its important contribution to environmental pollution due to its fluctuating and recalcitrant nature. In the present study, the chemical treatability of penicillin formulation effluent (average filtered COD(o)=830 mg/l; average soluble COD(o)=615 mg/l; pH(o)=6.9) bearing the active substances penicillin Amoxicillin Trihydrate (C(16)H(19)N(3)O(5)S.3H(2)O) and the beta-lactamase inhibitor Potassium Clavulanate (C(8)H(8)KNO(5)) has been investigated. For this purpose, the penicillin formulation effluent was subjected to ozonation (applied ozone dose=2500 mg/(lxh)) at varying pH (2.5-12.0) and O(3)+H(2)O(2) (perozonation) at different initial H(2)O(2) concentrations (=2-40 mM) and pH 10.5. According to the experimental results, the overall Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency varied between 10 and 56% for ozonation and 30% (no H(2)O(2)) and 83% (20 mM H(2)O(2)) for the O(3)+H(2)O(2) process. The addition of H(2)O(2) improved the COD removal rates considerably even at the lowest studied H(2)O(2) concentration. An optimum H(2)O(2) concentration of 20 mM existed at which the highest COD removal efficiency and abatement kinetics were obtained. The ozone absorption rate ranged between 53% (ozonation) and 68% (perozonation). An ozone input of 800 mg/l in 20 min was sufficient to achieve the highest BOD(5)/COD (biodegradability) ratio (=0.45) and BOD(5) value (109 mg/l) for the pre-treated penicillin formulation effluent. After the establishment of optimum ozonation and perozonation conditions, mixtures of synthetic domestic wastewater+raw, ozonated and perozonated penicillin formulation effluent were subjected to biological activated sludge treatment at a food-to-microorganisms (F/M) ratio of 0.23 mg COD/(mg MLSSxd), using a consortium of acclimated microorganisms. COD removal efficiencies of the activated sludge process were 71, 81 and 72% for pharmaceutical wastewater containing synthetic domestic wastewater mixed with either raw, ozonated or perozonated formulation effluent, respectively. The ultimate COD value obtained after 24-h biotreatment of the synthetic domestic wastewater+pre-ozonated formulation effluent mixture was around 100 mg/l instead of 180 mg/l which was the final COD obtained for the wastewater mixture containing raw formulation effluent, indicating that pre-ozonation at least partially removed the non-biodegradable COD fraction of the formulation effluent.

Merits of polyoxotungstates as environmental remediation catalysts: a novel wet oxidation technology for refractory industrial pollutants

The catalytic effect of silicadodecatungstate (SiW12O40(4-)) on the oxidation of nitrobenzene in subcritical water (T = 100-300 degrees C; P = 0.1-8.6MPa, pH = 2.6) was examined. In the absence of SiW12O40(4-) catalyst nitrobenzene oxidation slowed down significantly after a brief period of rapid degradation and an average of 40% nitrobenzene removal. The catalytic effect of SiW12O40(4-) becomes particularly pronounced after a temperature dependent induction period. Catalyzed wet air oxidation continued until the degradation of the parent compound was complete provided that experimental conditions were harsh enough (T > 200 degrees C). Product distribution analysis suggested that the oxidation paths for catalyzed and uncatalyzed wet air oxidation of nitrobenzene are similar, but the analysis was not definitive.

The effect of pre-ozonation on the H2O2/UV-C treatment of raw and biologically pre-treated textile industry wastewater

Advanced chemical oxidation of raw and biologically pretreated wastewater by ozonation, H2O2/UV-C treatment and the successive combination of ozonation and H2O2/UV-C oxidation was investigated. For the raw textile wastewater, the application of successive O3 + H2O2/UV-C oxidation enhanced the COD and TOC removal efficiency of the H2O2 (50 mM)/UV-C process by a factor of 13 and 4, respectively. In case of the biotreated textile wastewater, the preliminary ozonation step increased COD removal of the H2O2 (10 mM)/UV-C treatment system from 15% to 62%, and TOC removal from 0% to 34%, but did not appear to be more effective than applying a single ozonation process in terms of TOC abatement rates. Enhancement of the biodegradability was more pronounced for the biologically pre-treated wastewater with a two fold average increase in the BOD5/COD ratio for the studied chemical oxidation systems.