Wastewater treatment: wet air oxidation as a precursor to biological treatment

The use of wet air oxidation as a pretreatment step in the context of an in tegrated chemical/biological process was investigated for model organic-con taining wastewaters. It was found that the selection of suitable wastewater s and pretreatment conditions (i.e. temperature, residence time, use of cat alysts) was significant for the effective application of an integrated proc ess. For the systems under consideration, an integrated process was found t o be advantageous for treating a polymer-containing wastewater, while mild wet air oxidation alone may suffice to treat a polyphenol-containing wastew ater. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.