Biodegradation of high strength phenolic wastewater using SBR

This investigation demonstrates the capability of a bench-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to biodegrade an inhibitory substrate at a high loading rate. A SBR loading rate of 3.12 kg phenol.m(-3)d(-1) (2.1 g COD.g(-1) MLV SS d(-1)) with a COD removal efficiency of 97% at a SRT of 4 days and a HRT of 10 hours was achieved; this rate was not reached before. The SBR was op erated at 4 hours cycle, including 3 hours react phase. The synthetic waste water of 1300 mg/L phenol was the sole carbon source. Oxygen uptake rates (OUR) were monitored in-situ at various stages of the S BR. The oxygen mass transfer coefficient, K(L)a, of 12.6 h(-1) was derived from respirometry. Use of respirometry in SBR aided the tracking of the sol uble substrate through OUR.