Biodegradation of PCE in a Hybrid Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 1
Abstract
A continuous flow flat sheet hybrid membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) was used to treat a synthetic wastewater containing perchloroethylene (PCE); chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L of glucose was also added to the synthetic wastewater as a source of COD representative of a real wastewater. The reactor was able to biodegrade of PCE in without the accumulation of any intermediate compounds, resulting in a removal rate of of in a reactor with a specific membrane area of . MABRs have never been used before for PCE degradation, and this rate is one of the highest volumetric PCE degradation rates reported in the literature. COD removal was also good and varied from 85 to 92%. Since very few volatile fatty acids accumulated in the system, most of the residual COD was attributed to soluble microbial products as reported by previous researchers. A mass balance on chloride during this study showed that only 72–81% of it could be accounted for. It is probable that some of the chlorinated ethenes were adsorbed onto the biofilm or that aerobic intermediates of low-chlorinated compounds such as trichloroethanol, dichloroacetyl, and chloroacetaldehyde were produced in the system. Nevertheless the chloride mass balance in this work compares well with the literature. Due to their high PCE and COD removal rates, hybrid MABRs have the potential to be used for a number of refractory organics which require combined anaerobic/aerobic biological treatment for degradation.
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Acknowledgments
D. G. Ohandja would like to thank the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)-United Kingdom for the award of a scholarship.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 1 • January 2007
Pages: 20 - 27
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 4, 2005
Accepted: Jul 10, 2006
Published online: Jan 1, 2007
Published in print: Jan 2007
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