Biotransformation of Carbon Tetrachloride and Anaerobic Granulation in a Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 3
Abstract
Carbon tetrachloride (CT) in a synthetic wastewater was effectively degraded in a upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor during the granulation process by increasing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and CT loadings. The effect of operational parameters such as influent CT concentrations, COD, CT loading, food to mass (F/M) ratio, and specific methanogenic activity (SMA) were also detected during granulation. Over 97% of CT was removed at , at a COD loading rate of . Chemical oxygen demand and CT removal efficiencies of 92 and 88% were achieved when the reactor was operating at CT and COD loading rates of and , respectively. This corresponds to an hydraulic retention time of and an F/M ratio of . In , the seed sludge developed the CT degrading capability that was not very sensitive to shocks. The granular sludge cultivated had a maximum diameter of and SMA of . Glucose biodegradation by CT acclimated anaerobic granules was expressed with competitive inhibition. However the competitive inhibition was not significant since the competitive inhibition coefficient was as high as . Kinetic coefficients of (maximum specific substrate utilization rate), (half velocity coefficient), (growth yield coefficient), and (decay coefficient) were determined as , , glucose-COD, and , respectively, based on growth substrate glucose–COD during CT biotransformation. The CT was treated via biodegradation and this contributed to 89% of the total removal. The removal contributions from biomass adsorption, abiotic transformation, and volatilization were negligible. Adsorption and volatilization accounted for only 0.8 and 0.5% of the total removal, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
The writer would like to express her thanks to TÜBİTAK (The Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council) for financial support under Grant No. YDABÇAG-485 and to Dokuz Eylül University Support Foundation, Grant No. 0908.97.02.03.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 3 • March 2005
Pages: 425 - 433
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 20, 2001
Accepted: Apr 13, 2004
Published online: Mar 1, 2005
Published in print: Mar 2005
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