SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 15
Download to read offline
Journal of Engineering Science and Technology
Vol. 2, No. 1 (2007) 55-69
© School of Engineering, Taylor’s University College




   COMBINED ANAEROBIC-AEROBIC SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF
                  TEXTILE WASTEWATER


                  MAHDI AHMED*, AZNI IDRIS, AOFAH ADAM


      Department of chemical and environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
               Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia
                    *Corresponding Author: Mahdiupm@hotmail.com




                                         Abstract
    Textile manufacturing consumes a considerable amount of water in its manufacturing
    processes. The water is primarily utilized in the dyeing and finishing operations of the
    textile establishments. Considering both the volume generated and the effluent
    composition, the textile industry wastewater is rated as the most polluting among all
    industrial sectors. In this study a combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor was operated
    continuously for treatment of textile wastewater. Cosmo balls were used to function as
    growth media for microorganisms in anaerobic reactor. Effect of pH, dissolved
    oxygen, and organic changes in nitrification and denatrification process were
    investigated. The results indicated that over 84.62% ammonia nitrogen and about
    98.9% volatile suspended solid (VSS) removal efficiency could be obtained. Dissolved
    oxygen (DO), pH were shown to have only slight influences on the nitrification
    process; and for each 10% removal of nitrogen, only 3% of pH changes were achieved.


    Keywords: Anaerobic, Aerobic, Nitrification, Denitrification, Textile wastewater.


1. Introduction
The textile industry, apart from being an important contributor to the economy of
numerous countries, is also a major source of various liquid, solid and gaseous wastes.
This kind of industrial activity can have a negative impact on the environment, both in
terms of pollutant discharge as well as of water and energy consumption. Although
the amount of water used and wastewater generated is largely dependent upon the
                                             55
56     M. Ahmed et al



       Nomenclatures

       SSC        Steady State Condition
       COD        Chemical Oxygen Demand
       BOD        Biochemical Oxygen Demand
       OLR        Organic Loading Rate
       VSS        Volatile Suspended Solid
       TSS        Total Suspended Solid
       HRT        Hydraulic Retention Time
       BNR        Biological Nitrogen Removal
       PVC        Polyvinyl chloride
       NH4-N      Ammonia nitrogen
       NO3        Nitrate
       NO2        Nitride



specific type of operations followed, in general, dyeing, washing, and finishing
operations exert the greatest demand [1]. For instance, a relatively recent survey of the
Malaysian textile industry has revealed that the volume of wastewater generated by
dyeing and finishing operations ranged from 73 to 167m3 per ton of product [2].
     Anaerobic digestion is widely used to remove organic matter from high strength
wastewaters because of its relatively low sludge production and energy needs.
Organic nitrogenous compounds present in the wastewater, such as proteins, amino
acids or urea, are mainly reduced to ammonia which is not further degraded in
anaerobic conditions. The discharge of effluents containing ammonia is undesirable
because it causes excessive oxygen demand in the receiving waters. Ammonia
toxicity on aquatic life is also possible at high concentrations and high pH values.
Complete nitrogen removal is also necessary where the receiving water is a water
supply source for downstream users, since eutrophication and nitrate enrichment
should be avoided.
    In the case of a wastewater with a low COD/TKN ratio, organic carbon content of
the digested effluent may be insufficient to achieve complete denitrification and the
addition of an external carbon source is then required.
     Earlier studies [3] have shown that nitrogen and carbon can be effectively
removed from synthetic wastewaters using coupled aerobic and anaerobic filters,
where methane production and denitrification will be encouraged to take place in the
anaerobic filter while nitrification and final effluent polishing will take place in the
aerobic filter. Attempts to carry out denitrification and methane production in a
completely mixed reactor have not proved very effective [4] because nitrogen oxides
have been found to inhibit (reversibly) methanogenic bacteria [5, 6]. Furthermore,
dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia can occur in the system depending on the
type of carbon compounds present in the system. Consequently, biofilm reactors have
been used in the combined denitrification/anaerobic digestion system because the


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                     APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater        57



fixed nature of the media enables the creation of macro and micro-environments
within the system, so that the different bacteria involved in the reactions can then
grow and concentrate in zones within the reactor favourable to their metabolic
activities [4, 7]. The use of biofilm reactors is good for wastewaters containing
relatively small amounts of suspended solids. When the wastewater contains
significant quantities of solids as in most textile and food processing wastewaters, the
use of suspended growth reactors becomes inevitable, and presently very little has
been done on nitrate reduction in suspended growth anaerobic systems. Studies with
up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors have been reported [8], but UASB
reactors have a very long start-up time for the granules to develop, thus limiting the
scope of their application. This study therefore attempts to investigate the
effectiveness of the combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor to treat textile wastewater in
term of nitrogen removal.



2. Materials and Methods
2.1 Source of raw textile wastewater
The industrial wastewater used was collected from a textile factory located in the
Balakong, Selangor state, in Malaysia. The various waste streams from the dyeing,
printing, washing, de-sizing, scouring, mercerizing, and bleaching operations were
collected and combined together in a storage tank. Since the combined wastewater
was in the alkaline pH range (8.7–10.8), the pH was adjusted to around the neutral
mark by adding a concentrated solution (96%, w/w) of sulfuric acid (H2SO4), prior to
feeding to the bioreactors, in order to minimize any potential toxic and/or inhibitory
effects on the biomass [9, 10]. A summary of important influent characteristics is
presented (Table 1).

2.2 Set up of experimental design
A laboratory scale combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor was set up to investigate the
effectiveness of the system to treat textile wastewater in term of nitrogen removal
(Fig. 1).
2.2.1 Anaerobic reactor
The anaerobic reactor, made of transparent PVC, has a diameter of 30 cm, height of
30 cm, and total working volume of 18 litres. The reactor was filled up with
supporting particles (Cosmo ball) for immobilization of microorganism in the system,
and a total of 2-liter active sludge from palm oil mill was collected from Hulu Langat,
Malaysia and fed into the reactor. The total surface area of support material was
192.56m2.
2.2.2 Aerobic reactor
The aerobic reactor is made of transparent PVC, has a diameter of 20 cm, height of 48
cm, and total working volume of 9 litre. A total of 1 liter sewage sludge from Indah
Water Konsortium (IWK) was collected and fed into the aerobic reactor.


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                    APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
58     M. Ahmed et al



Acclimatization of the aerobic sludge was not as critical as compared to anaerobic
reactor due to primary function of the aerobic reactor was meant for polishing only.
Air was supplied by a fine bubble diffuser; flow was regulated at 6 mg/l/min by a
flow meter.




       Fig.1. Schematic Drawing of Combined Anaerobic- Aerobic System.

    The study was carried out in four different hydraulic retention times, 24, 18, 12,
and 8 hours respectively, with the operating conditions showing in Table 2 which
were divided into 4 phases. Each of the phases lasted for 14 days in order to allow
biomass flocs to develop inside the reactors for biodegradation of the influent organic
substrate.


2.3. Feeding criteria
The first load of Textile wastewater with organic loading rate (OLR) 1 kg COD/liter/d
was fed into anaerobic reactor on Week 1 and continued till the end of Week 2. The
influent COD was kept almost constant (500 ppm) throughout the entire 14 days
period. The OLR was subsequently increased to 2 kg COD/liter/d in Week 3 to Week
4. On Week 5 to Week 6, the OLR was increased to 3 kg COD/liter/d and finally
raised up to 4 kg COD/liter/d for Week 7 to Week 8 to complete the 4 OLR in this
study. The OLR is corresponding to the HRT of 24, 18, 12 and 8 hours respectively.
The incremental increase of OLR was made after steady state conditions (SSC) were
attained. The growth of new cells is offset by the death of old cells. SSC were
considered to occur when the treated COD concentrations were constant for a period
of 3-4 days.




Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                   APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater        59



2.4 Analytical methods
Liquid effluents were analyzed according to Standard Methods for Examination of
Water and Wastewater [11]. The following parameters were determined, pH,
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Volatile
Suspended Solid (VSS), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Ammonia , Nitrate, and
Nitrite.


3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Combined system acclimation
For most industrial wastewaters, an acclimation period is necessary in order to
gradually expose the microbial community to the potentially inhibitory or toxic
organic compounds present. This allows for the development of appropriate enzyme-
producing genes that are essential to induce biodegradation [12, 13]. In this study, the
feeding pattern followed (described in section 2.3) appeared to be successful. It
should be noted that despite the relatively low biodegradability potential of the
wastewater used, acclimatized biomass was able to remove a much higher amount of
organic matter.
3.2 Nitrogen removal
In phase I where the HRT was around 24 and OLR applied was 1 kg COD/m3/d,
anaerobic reactor achieved removal efficiency of 60%, while the aerobic system
achieved 80% NH4-N removal (Fig. 2). In phase II the HRT was reduced to 18, and
the OLR increased to 2 kg COD/m3/d, anaerobic reactor kept the previous value of
removal efficiency (60%), while the aerobic reactor reached 85% in removal
efficiency of NH4-N.The result from phases (III-IV) indicated that any further
decrease in the HRT with the increase of OLR, result in the gradual reduction in the
removal efficiency of the both reactors (Fig. 2).




   Fig.2. Effect of HRT on the Removal of Ammonia in the Combined System.



Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                    APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
60                            M. Ahmed et al



     It was found that the result of the final treated effluent in the aerobic system was
low compared to the anaerobic system effluent. This was due to nitrification process,
which had occurred in the aerobic system. The nitrification process was not 100%
completed due to the high organic load and the time needed for regeneration of
biofilm was too short to allow adequate colonization of nitrifying bacteria to occur
[14]. Also the aeration time was too short to allow the completion of 100%
nitrification process.
     Figure 3 shows the conversion of nitrate for the combined treatment plant. It
showed that the nitrate conversion in the aerobic system was twice as high as in the
anaerobic one. This is due to the conversion of ammonia to nitrite and from nitrite to
nitrate.

                              60

                              50
     Nitrate conversion (%)




                              40
                                         Effluent Aerobic
                              30

                              20         Effluent Anaerobic

                              10

                              0
                                  0        10        20       30        40       50         60       70
                                                              Time (day)
                                      Fig. 3. Nitrate Conversion during the Treatment Process.


3.3 Influence of organic changes on nitrification
Previous studies carried by Osada et al., [15], showed that organic such as BOD and
COD of the influent and effluent of anaerobic have great influence on the nitrification
process. The result of this study showed that the removal of NH4 increased with an
increase of the organic loading materials and HRT. The COD/NH4 ratio also has an
influence on the removal and efficiencies of the Anaerobic –Aerobic process. The
result of this study showed that there was no effect of ammonia removal within the
range of 0 to 2.0 of COD/NH4 ratio (Fig. 4). The optimum COD/NH4 ratio for
removal of ammonia was 7.2.




Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                         APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater   61




     Ammonia Nitrogen Removal (%)
                                    100

                                    80

                                    60

                                    40

                                    20

                                     0
                                          0              4               8              12              16
                                                                    COD/NH4


                                    Fig.4. The Relation of COD/NH4 Ratio and NH4-N removal (%).

     Lee et al. [16] reported that the ammonia removal efficiencies decreased with an
increase in NH4 loading of wastewater. The result also showed that at influent
COD/NH4 of 7.2, 9.9, and 14.7, the removal efficiencies in the combined system were
88%, 80%, and 69% respectively. Osada et al. [15] Confirmed that the optimum
influent COD/NH4 ratio for nitrogen removal was around 14.0. At high influent
COD/NH4 ratios, nitrogen removal efficiency was limited by incomplete ammonia
oxidation, as the high organic load was not removed in the unaerated zone that affects
the nitrification process. Although ammonia was completely oxidized for lower
COD/NH4 ratios, there was also a corresponding build-up in the nitrite and nitrate
concentration due to insufficient carbon for the denitrification [15].


3.4 Influence of dissolved Oxygen and pH changes on nitrification
The low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration significantly affect
nitrification [17]. However, the results showed that the dissolved oxygen in this study
was sufficient for the nitrification process although the results were higher than that
reported by the other researcher (Table 3).
     Figure 5 showed the influence of dissolved oxygen on nitrification process, which
indicated that, for each 5% changes in dissolved oxygen in aerobic reactor, 10%
removal of nitrogen was achieved. So, it is clear that dissolved oxygen is one of the
factors that affect the removal of nitrogen. Previous studies showed that, the
nitrification rate was increased with increasing dissolved oxygen in the range of 1-3
mg/l and decreased with the range of 0.3-0.5-mg/l [20]. In order to achieve a NH4-N
removal of above 60%, the dissolved oxygen concentration in the aerobic system
should be maintained above 1 mg/l [21]. The higher the dissolved oxygen
concentration, the higher the NH4-N removal obtained. The dissolved oxygen is


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                              APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
62                      M. Ahmed et al



essential for nitrification process because it acts as an electron acceptor in the
biochemical reaction involved. Therefore dissolved oxygen concentration must be
higher than 2 mg/l in order to prevent the possibility of oxygen limitation.


                        100
                         90
                         80
     NH4-N Removal




                         70
                         60
                         50
                         40
                         30
                         20
                         10
                          0
                               0              1        2         3           4               5         6
                                                       DO concentration (mg/l)

                                   Fig.5. Influence of Dissolved Oxygen on Nitrification.


     The pH value showed a slightly difference between the system. The average pH
for anaerobic and aerobic system was 7.0 and 6.9 respectively. Figure 6 reflects the
influence of pH on nitrification rate, it also showed that only little changes on
nitrification rate, caused by pH range of 6.7-7.8.


                         1.6
                         1.4
      NH4 Removal (%)




                         1.2
                          1
                         0.8
                         0.6
                         0.4
                         0.2
                          0
                               6        6.5       7     7.5      8       8.5     9          9.5   10
                                                                pH

                         Fig.6. Influence of pH of the Combined System on Nitrification.


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                     APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater   63



    The optimum pH of this study was 8.3 and the nitrification rate will fall almost to
zero at pH 9.6 and the nitrification decreases as the pH decreases. The optimum pH in
previous studies for nitrification was in the range of 7.2-8.6. [22, 23]. Nitrification
practically stops at pH below 6.3. In comparison with the results of this study, the pH
obtained was still within the range of acceptable pH and will enhance the nitrification
process.


3.5 Evaluation of denitrification rate
The denitrification rate was varying during the 63 day of the process. The rate was
largely dependent on the concentration of nitrate and volatile suspended solids on that
day (Fig. 7). As seen from Fig. 7, the rate varies from 0.4 to 1.2 mg NO3/ mg
VSS.day. The COD/NO3 ratio was approximately 5.26 and it was low compared to
the previous studies. The relationship between COD/NO3 ratio and denitrification rate
can be seen in Fig. 8, and it showed that for each 5% changes of COD/NO3 ratio, 0.2
denitrification rates was achieved. The minimum COD/NO3 ratio requirement for
effective denitrification in anaerobic filters was reported to be between 7.5 and 9 [23].
Performance of a new biological aerated filter for complete nitrogen removal based on
simultaneous nitrification and denitrification was evaluated by [24] using C/N ratio
between 6 and 7.5. They also reported that if the ratio was higher than 7.5, the carbon
was burned off by oxygen.
     Denit rification rat e (mgNO3/mg VSS.day)




                                                 1.4

                                                 1.2

                                                  1

                                                 0.8

                                                 0.6

                                                 0.4

                                                 0.2

                                                  0
                                                       0        10        20       30          40     50        60        70
                                                                                        Time (day)

                                                              Fig.7. Denitrification Rate over the Time.




Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                                           APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
64     M. Ahmed et al




                                              1.4


       Denitrification rate (mgNO3/ mg VSS)
                                              1.2

                                               1

                                              0.8

                                              0.6

                                              0.4

                                              0.2

                                                    0   2    4        6        8          10        12
                                                                  COD/NO3
                                   Fig.8. The Relation of COD/NO3 Ratio and Denitrification Rate.


3.6 Influence of dissolved Oxygen and pH changes on denitrification
Many investigators have reported various results for the influence of oxygen on the
biochemistry of the denitrification process. Figure 9 shows the decreasing of
denitrification rate with the increasing dissolved oxygen concentration. It appeared
that the results from this study were comparable to previous studies (Table 4), with
the facts that dissolved oxygen would inhibit denitrification process, if it was present
in large amount. In addition, there was an explanation that oxygen either represses the
formation of the enzyme nitrate reductase or acts as an electron acceptor, thereby
preventing the reduction of nitrate [28].
     Figure 10 Shows that the most suitable pH for denitrification process was below
8, and the rate of denitrification was reduced with increasing pH. Previous studies
showed that, the effect of pH on nitrification was not significant if the denitrification
was carried out between the ranges of pH 6.5-8 [20]. The optimal pH for
denitrification varies with the types of organisms present but in general a neutral or
slightly alkaline condition was suitable [29]. However, the range of pH value used for
denitrification in previous studies was varied in the range of 7.0 to 7.5 [30].


3.7 Organic removal
Figures 11and 12 show the removal efficiency of BOD and COD on the combined
anaerobic and aerobic system during the different HRT. It was observed that the
removal rate of the both parameters (COD, BOD) in the aerobic system was higher
when compared with that in the anaerobic system. In this study the anaerobic system


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                        APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater          65



achieves final BOD removal value of 40% in the effluent, while 65% removal for the
effluent in the aerobic system (HRT= 8) (Figure 11). In anaerobic system, the COD
removal achieved in the effluent was 50% whereas the value of 75% in the aerobic
system (HRT= 8) (Fig. 12).
    Denitrification rate(mg NO3/ mg VSS.day)


                                                 1.4

                                                 1.2

                                                  1

                                                 0.8

                                                 0.6

                                                 0.4

                                                 0.2

                                                  0
                                                       0.8           1          1.2        1.4       1.6          1.8          2
                                                                               Dissolved oxygen (mg O2/l)
                                                         Fig. 9. Influence of Dissolved Oxygen on Denitrification.



                                                 1.4
     Denitrification rate (mg NO3/ mg VSS.day)




                                                 1.2

                                                  1

                                                 0.8

                                                 0.6

                                                 0.4

                                                 0.2

                                                   0
                                                       6.2     6.4       6.6      6.8     7     7.2     7.4      7.6     7.8       8
                                                                                          pH

                                                 Fig.10. Influence of pH of the Combined System on Denitrification.



Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                                                                 APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
66    M. Ahmed et al




       Fig.11. Effect of HRT on BOD Removal of the Combined System.




       Fig.12. Effect of HRT on COD Removal of the Combined System.


Journal of Engineering Science and Technology          APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater      67



3.8 Effect of organic loading on the effluent quality
The percentage of BOD removal ranges from 38% to 65% with various organic
loading rates (OLR) for operational period, while for the performance based on the
COD organic loading, the percentage removal was ranging from 35% to 60%. From
the result obtained, it was found that the higher organic loading for BOD and COD,
the higher the removal rate. It also had shown that the biological nitrogen removal
(BNR) system has a low sensitivity on organic loading variations.
    The concentration of Total Suspended Solid (TSS) and Volatile Suspended Solid
(VSS) in the final effluent was ranging from 10.0- 22.0 mg/l and 0.9- 32.2 mg/l
respectively, while the percentage of removal rate for TSS and VSS are about 70.2%
and 98.9% respectively.


4. Conclusions
This study concluded that the combined anaerobic-aerobic system was able to treat
high strength textile wastewater. The maximum removal of ammonia nitrogen, BOD,
COD, VSS were 84.62%, 63.64%, 60% and 98.9% respectively. The concentrations
level of ammonia nitrogen, BOD and COD in the final effluent were found to be 1.11
mg/l, 13.17 mg/l and 108.75 mg/l respectively.
     Dissolved oxygen, pH were shown to have only slight influences on the
nitrification process; and for each 10% removal of nitrogen, only 3% of pH changes
were achieved. The changes of COD/NO3 at 28% gave 0.06 mg NO3/VSS
denitrification rate and this rate will decrease with increasing of dissolved oxygen
concentration.


References
1.   Gurnhan, C. F. (1965). Industrial Waste Control. New York: Academic Press.
2.   Lin, S. H. & Peng, C. F. (1996). Continuous treatment of textile wastewater by
     combined coagulation, electrochemical oxidation and activated sludge. Water
     Res., 30, 587-592.
3.   Akunna J., Bizeau C., Moletta R., Bernet N. & Heduit A. (1994). Combined
     organic carbon and complete nitrogen removal using anaerobic and aerobic
     upflow filters. Water Sci. Technol., 30 (12), 297-306.
4.   Akunna J. C., Bernet N. & Moletta R. (1998). Effect of nitrates on
     methanogenesis at low redox potential. Environ. Technol., 19, 1249-1254.
5.   Chen, K.-C. & Lin, Y.-F. (1993). The relationship between denitrifying bacteria
     and methanogenic bacteria in a mixed culture system of acclimated sludge. Water
     Res., 27 (12), 1749-1759.
6.   Clarens, M., Bernet, N., DelgeneÁ, J. P. & Moletta, R. (1998). Effect of nitrogen
     oxides and nitrate denitrification by Pseudomonas stutzeri on acetotrophic
     methanogenesis by Methanosarcina mazei. FEMS Microbiol.Ecol., 25 (3), 271-
     276.



Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                   APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
68       M. Ahmed et al



7.    Chen, K.-C., Lin, Y.-F. & Houng, J.-Y. (1997). Performance of a continuous
      stirred tank reactor with immobilized denitrifiers and methanogens. Water
      Environ. Res., 69 (2), 233-239.
8.    Hendriksen, H. V. & Ahring, B. K. (1996). Integrated removal of nitrate and
      carbon in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor: operating
      performance. Water Res., 30 (6), 1451-1458.
9.    Wongwikraw, N. (2000). Color Removal from Textile Wastewater using Fenton’s
      Reagent in Conjunction with Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactors, M Sc.
      Thesis, Bangkok, Thailand, Mahidol University.
10.   Yamasmit, A. (2000). Efficiency of an Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor in
      the Treatment of a Textile Wastewater, M.Sc. Thesis, Bangkok, Thailand
      :Mahidol University.
11.   APHA. (1998). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater
      (20th ed.) Washington, D.C.Bioeng: American Public Health Association. 86,
      424-426.
12.   Metcalf & Eddy. (2003).Wastewater engineering: Treatment and Reuse, (4th ed.)
      New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
13.   Chin, H., Elefsiniotis, P., and Singhal, N. (2002). Wastewater treatment by
      combination methods.Proceedings of the 44th New Zealand Water and Wastes
      Association Annual Conference and Expo, Christchurch, New Zealand, 560-570.
14.   Macro, A., Esplugas, S. and Saum, G. (1997). Use of sequencing batch reactors
      and Fenton’s reagent to treat a wastewater from a textile industry. Water Sci.
      Technol., 35 (4) 321-328.
15.   Osada, T., Haga, K. and Harada, Y. (1991). Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus
      from swine wastewater by the activated sludge units with the intermittent aeration
      process, Water Res., 25 (11), 1377-1388.
16.   Lee, Y.D., Shin, E.B., Choi, Y.S., Yoon, H.S., Lee, H.S., Chung, I.J and Na, J.S.
      (1997).Biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater by a
      single sludge reactor. Water Res., 35 (16), 3968-3976.
17.   Ahn, D.-H., Chang, W.-S., and Yoon, T.-I. (1999). Dyestuff wastewater treatment
      using chemical oxidation, physical adsorption and fixed bed biofilm process.
      Process Biochem., 34, 429-439.
18.   Sutton P. M., Murphy K. L. & Dawson R. N. (1981). Low temperature biological
      denitrification of wastewater. J. Water Pollut. Control Fed. 47, 122-134.
19.   Hao, K., Osada, T. and Harada Y. (1996). Characterization of piggery wastewater
      and the control of nitrogen and phosphorus. Envir. Inform. Sci., 18, 57-60.
20.   Qasim, S. (1999).Wastewater Treatment Plants, Planning, Design, and
      Operation, (2nd ed.). Lancaster, PA: Technomic publishing Co.
21.   Hsu, T. H. and Chiang, C. S. (1997). Activated sludge treatment of dispersed dye
      factory wastewater. J. Environ. Sci. Health, 32, 1921-1932.
22.   Hofman, T. & Lees, H. (1953).The biochemistry of nitrifying organisms. IV. The
      respiration and intermediary metabolism of Nitrosomonas. Biochem. J., 54, 579-
      583.
23.   Rogalla, F. and Bourbigot, M.(1990). New developments in complete nitrogen
      removal with biological aerated filter. Water Sci. Technol., 22, 273–80.



Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                     APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater       69



24. Puznava, M, Solisio, C. and Cevisola, G. (1999). Electrochemical remediation of
    copper (II) from an industrial effluent part II: three-dimensional foam electrodes.
    Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 27, 299–307.
25. Henze, M. and Harremoes, P. (1983). Anaerobic treatment of wastewater in fixed
    film reactors - a literature review. Water Sci. Technol., 15, 1–101.
26. Van Haute, A. , Timmermans P. and. Gored , L. (1981). Denitrification with
    methanol. Fundamental study of the growth and denitrification capacity of
    Hypomicrobium sp. Water Res., 17, 1249-1255.
27. Harremoës, P., Haarbo, A., Winther-Nielsen, M. and Thirsing, C. (1998). Six
    years of pilot plant studies for design of treatment plants for nutrient removal.
    Water Sci. Technol., 38 (1), 219–26.
28. Meyer, U. (1981). Biodegradation of synthetic organic colorants. In Microbial
    Degradation of Xenobiotic and Recalcitrant Compounds, FEMS Symposium 12,
    ed. T. Leisinger, A. M. Cook, R. Hutter & J. Nuesch. London: Academic Press,
    371-385.
29. Metcalf and Eddy. (1991). Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal and
    Reuse, (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Inc., McGraw-Hill.
30. USEPA. (1975) .Process Design Manual for Nitrooen Control, Cincinnati, Ohio.
    Office of Technology Transfer.




Journal of Engineering Science and Technology                   APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)

More Related Content

What's hot

Activated Sludge Process
Activated Sludge ProcessActivated Sludge Process
Activated Sludge Process
Niaz Memon
 
Biology of Biogas
Biology of BiogasBiology of Biogas
Biology of Biogas
Sankalp Pathak
 
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
Aajay Paachpute
 
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
ijtsrd
 

What's hot (19)

Thesis Defense Presentation
Thesis Defense PresentationThesis Defense Presentation
Thesis Defense Presentation
 
20120140504001
2012014050400120120140504001
20120140504001
 
Activated Sludge Process
Activated Sludge ProcessActivated Sludge Process
Activated Sludge Process
 
02 Characterization and Primary Treatment of Sewage
02 Characterization and Primary Treatment of Sewage02 Characterization and Primary Treatment of Sewage
02 Characterization and Primary Treatment of Sewage
 
Activated sludge calculations with excel course
Activated sludge calculations with excel courseActivated sludge calculations with excel course
Activated sludge calculations with excel course
 
Fn35985990
Fn35985990Fn35985990
Fn35985990
 
Biology of Biogas
Biology of BiogasBiology of Biogas
Biology of Biogas
 
Activated sludge process
Activated sludge processActivated sludge process
Activated sludge process
 
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
Activated sludge process treatement of spentwash Presentation1
 
Biofiltration for Treatment of Volatile Organic Compounds
Biofiltration for Treatment of Volatile Organic CompoundsBiofiltration for Treatment of Volatile Organic Compounds
Biofiltration for Treatment of Volatile Organic Compounds
 
Activated sludge process in wastewater treatment plant
Activated sludge process in wastewater treatment plantActivated sludge process in wastewater treatment plant
Activated sludge process in wastewater treatment plant
 
L 24 Activated Sludge Process
L 24 Activated Sludge ProcessL 24 Activated Sludge Process
L 24 Activated Sludge Process
 
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
Removal of Pb II from Aqueous Solutions using Activated Carbon Prepared from ...
 
Ijciet 10 01_006
Ijciet 10 01_006Ijciet 10 01_006
Ijciet 10 01_006
 
IRJET- Stabilizing and Converting Leachate into Non-Toxic Liquid for Grou...
IRJET-  	  Stabilizing and Converting Leachate into Non-Toxic Liquid for Grou...IRJET-  	  Stabilizing and Converting Leachate into Non-Toxic Liquid for Grou...
IRJET- Stabilizing and Converting Leachate into Non-Toxic Liquid for Grou...
 
Rotating biological contactor
Rotating biological contactorRotating biological contactor
Rotating biological contactor
 
Activated sludge process
Activated sludge processActivated sludge process
Activated sludge process
 
Evaluation of the levels of haloacetic acids in gharbiya governorate, egypt[#...
Evaluation of the levels of haloacetic acids in gharbiya governorate, egypt[#...Evaluation of the levels of haloacetic acids in gharbiya governorate, egypt[#...
Evaluation of the levels of haloacetic acids in gharbiya governorate, egypt[#...
 
Treatability study of cetp wastewater using physico chemical process-a case s...
Treatability study of cetp wastewater using physico chemical process-a case s...Treatability study of cetp wastewater using physico chemical process-a case s...
Treatability study of cetp wastewater using physico chemical process-a case s...
 

Similar to 55 69%20 ahmed

Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
Agriculture Journal IJOEAR
 

Similar to 55 69%20 ahmed (20)

Industrial Waste Water Treatment Using An Attached Media
Industrial Waste Water Treatment Using An Attached MediaIndustrial Waste Water Treatment Using An Attached Media
Industrial Waste Water Treatment Using An Attached Media
 
Screening and extraction of heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage s...
Screening and extraction of heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage s...Screening and extraction of heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage s...
Screening and extraction of heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage s...
 
Jeas 0915 2655 (2)
Jeas 0915 2655 (2)Jeas 0915 2655 (2)
Jeas 0915 2655 (2)
 
L43056874
L43056874L43056874
L43056874
 
Ex34922926
Ex34922926Ex34922926
Ex34922926
 
MAKENDRAN C
MAKENDRAN CMAKENDRAN C
MAKENDRAN C
 
Uasb wsatewater treatment
Uasb wsatewater treatmentUasb wsatewater treatment
Uasb wsatewater treatment
 
IRJET- Design and Fabrication of a Micro-Respirometer to Measure the Short-Te...
IRJET- Design and Fabrication of a Micro-Respirometer to Measure the Short-Te...IRJET- Design and Fabrication of a Micro-Respirometer to Measure the Short-Te...
IRJET- Design and Fabrication of a Micro-Respirometer to Measure the Short-Te...
 
Low Cost Anaerobic Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste Leachate
Low Cost Anaerobic Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste LeachateLow Cost Anaerobic Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste Leachate
Low Cost Anaerobic Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste Leachate
 
20120140503008 2
20120140503008 220120140503008 2
20120140503008 2
 
Evaluation of Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor for treating Sugar mill effluen...
Evaluation of Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor for treating Sugar mill effluen...Evaluation of Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor for treating Sugar mill effluen...
Evaluation of Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor for treating Sugar mill effluen...
 
International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)
International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)
International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)
 
IRJET- Applications of Anaerobic Baffled Reactor in Wastewater Treatment usin...
IRJET- Applications of Anaerobic Baffled Reactor in Wastewater Treatment usin...IRJET- Applications of Anaerobic Baffled Reactor in Wastewater Treatment usin...
IRJET- Applications of Anaerobic Baffled Reactor in Wastewater Treatment usin...
 
Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Waste – A Review with a Focus on ...
Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Waste – A Review with a Focus on ...Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Waste – A Review with a Focus on ...
Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Sewage Sludge and Waste – A Review with a Focus on ...
 
Design of Algal Photo Bioreactor Using Recycled PET Bottles
Design of Algal Photo Bioreactor Using Recycled PET BottlesDesign of Algal Photo Bioreactor Using Recycled PET Bottles
Design of Algal Photo Bioreactor Using Recycled PET Bottles
 
IRJET- Improvement of Sludge Reduction Efficiency of Ozonation by Microbubble...
IRJET- Improvement of Sludge Reduction Efficiency of Ozonation by Microbubble...IRJET- Improvement of Sludge Reduction Efficiency of Ozonation by Microbubble...
IRJET- Improvement of Sludge Reduction Efficiency of Ozonation by Microbubble...
 
Anaerobic methods of waste water treatment v.n.nag
Anaerobic methods of waste water treatment v.n.nagAnaerobic methods of waste water treatment v.n.nag
Anaerobic methods of waste water treatment v.n.nag
 
Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
Effect of temperature on biodegradation of textile dyeing effluent using pilo...
 
Parametric Studies on Detergent Using Low Cost Sorbent
Parametric Studies on Detergent Using Low Cost SorbentParametric Studies on Detergent Using Low Cost Sorbent
Parametric Studies on Detergent Using Low Cost Sorbent
 
IRJET- Effects of New Era Coagulants on Properties of Industrial Wastewat...
IRJET-  	  Effects of New Era Coagulants on Properties of Industrial Wastewat...IRJET-  	  Effects of New Era Coagulants on Properties of Industrial Wastewat...
IRJET- Effects of New Era Coagulants on Properties of Industrial Wastewat...
 

Recently uploaded

The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdfThe Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
Enterprise Knowledge
 

Recently uploaded (20)

Automating Google Workspace (GWS) & more with Apps Script
Automating Google Workspace (GWS) & more with Apps ScriptAutomating Google Workspace (GWS) & more with Apps Script
Automating Google Workspace (GWS) & more with Apps Script
 
Mastering MySQL Database Architecture: Deep Dive into MySQL Shell and MySQL R...
Mastering MySQL Database Architecture: Deep Dive into MySQL Shell and MySQL R...Mastering MySQL Database Architecture: Deep Dive into MySQL Shell and MySQL R...
Mastering MySQL Database Architecture: Deep Dive into MySQL Shell and MySQL R...
 
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityBoost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
 
Strategies for Landing an Oracle DBA Job as a Fresher
Strategies for Landing an Oracle DBA Job as a FresherStrategies for Landing an Oracle DBA Job as a Fresher
Strategies for Landing an Oracle DBA Job as a Fresher
 
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdfThe Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
 
Exploring the Future Potential of AI-Enabled Smartphone Processors
Exploring the Future Potential of AI-Enabled Smartphone ProcessorsExploring the Future Potential of AI-Enabled Smartphone Processors
Exploring the Future Potential of AI-Enabled Smartphone Processors
 
🐬 The future of MySQL is Postgres 🐘
🐬  The future of MySQL is Postgres   🐘🐬  The future of MySQL is Postgres   🐘
🐬 The future of MySQL is Postgres 🐘
 
Apidays Singapore 2024 - Building Digital Trust in a Digital Economy by Veron...
Apidays Singapore 2024 - Building Digital Trust in a Digital Economy by Veron...Apidays Singapore 2024 - Building Digital Trust in a Digital Economy by Veron...
Apidays Singapore 2024 - Building Digital Trust in a Digital Economy by Veron...
 
Presentation on how to chat with PDF using ChatGPT code interpreter
Presentation on how to chat with PDF using ChatGPT code interpreterPresentation on how to chat with PDF using ChatGPT code interpreter
Presentation on how to chat with PDF using ChatGPT code interpreter
 
What Are The Drone Anti-jamming Systems Technology?
What Are The Drone Anti-jamming Systems Technology?What Are The Drone Anti-jamming Systems Technology?
What Are The Drone Anti-jamming Systems Technology?
 
How to convert PDF to text with Nanonets
How to convert PDF to text with NanonetsHow to convert PDF to text with Nanonets
How to convert PDF to text with Nanonets
 
From Event to Action: Accelerate Your Decision Making with Real-Time Automation
From Event to Action: Accelerate Your Decision Making with Real-Time AutomationFrom Event to Action: Accelerate Your Decision Making with Real-Time Automation
From Event to Action: Accelerate Your Decision Making with Real-Time Automation
 
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...
 
ProductAnonymous-April2024-WinProductDiscovery-MelissaKlemke
ProductAnonymous-April2024-WinProductDiscovery-MelissaKlemkeProductAnonymous-April2024-WinProductDiscovery-MelissaKlemke
ProductAnonymous-April2024-WinProductDiscovery-MelissaKlemke
 
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
 
Raspberry Pi 5: Challenges and Solutions in Bringing up an OpenGL/Vulkan Driv...
Raspberry Pi 5: Challenges and Solutions in Bringing up an OpenGL/Vulkan Driv...Raspberry Pi 5: Challenges and Solutions in Bringing up an OpenGL/Vulkan Driv...
Raspberry Pi 5: Challenges and Solutions in Bringing up an OpenGL/Vulkan Driv...
 
Scaling API-first – The story of a global engineering organization
Scaling API-first – The story of a global engineering organizationScaling API-first – The story of a global engineering organization
Scaling API-first – The story of a global engineering organization
 
Partners Life - Insurer Innovation Award 2024
Partners Life - Insurer Innovation Award 2024Partners Life - Insurer Innovation Award 2024
Partners Life - Insurer Innovation Award 2024
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
 

55 69%20 ahmed

  • 1. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Vol. 2, No. 1 (2007) 55-69 © School of Engineering, Taylor’s University College COMBINED ANAEROBIC-AEROBIC SYSTEM FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE WASTEWATER MAHDI AHMED*, AZNI IDRIS, AOFAH ADAM Department of chemical and environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia *Corresponding Author: Mahdiupm@hotmail.com Abstract Textile manufacturing consumes a considerable amount of water in its manufacturing processes. The water is primarily utilized in the dyeing and finishing operations of the textile establishments. Considering both the volume generated and the effluent composition, the textile industry wastewater is rated as the most polluting among all industrial sectors. In this study a combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor was operated continuously for treatment of textile wastewater. Cosmo balls were used to function as growth media for microorganisms in anaerobic reactor. Effect of pH, dissolved oxygen, and organic changes in nitrification and denatrification process were investigated. The results indicated that over 84.62% ammonia nitrogen and about 98.9% volatile suspended solid (VSS) removal efficiency could be obtained. Dissolved oxygen (DO), pH were shown to have only slight influences on the nitrification process; and for each 10% removal of nitrogen, only 3% of pH changes were achieved. Keywords: Anaerobic, Aerobic, Nitrification, Denitrification, Textile wastewater. 1. Introduction The textile industry, apart from being an important contributor to the economy of numerous countries, is also a major source of various liquid, solid and gaseous wastes. This kind of industrial activity can have a negative impact on the environment, both in terms of pollutant discharge as well as of water and energy consumption. Although the amount of water used and wastewater generated is largely dependent upon the 55
  • 2. 56 M. Ahmed et al Nomenclatures SSC Steady State Condition COD Chemical Oxygen Demand BOD Biochemical Oxygen Demand OLR Organic Loading Rate VSS Volatile Suspended Solid TSS Total Suspended Solid HRT Hydraulic Retention Time BNR Biological Nitrogen Removal PVC Polyvinyl chloride NH4-N Ammonia nitrogen NO3 Nitrate NO2 Nitride specific type of operations followed, in general, dyeing, washing, and finishing operations exert the greatest demand [1]. For instance, a relatively recent survey of the Malaysian textile industry has revealed that the volume of wastewater generated by dyeing and finishing operations ranged from 73 to 167m3 per ton of product [2]. Anaerobic digestion is widely used to remove organic matter from high strength wastewaters because of its relatively low sludge production and energy needs. Organic nitrogenous compounds present in the wastewater, such as proteins, amino acids or urea, are mainly reduced to ammonia which is not further degraded in anaerobic conditions. The discharge of effluents containing ammonia is undesirable because it causes excessive oxygen demand in the receiving waters. Ammonia toxicity on aquatic life is also possible at high concentrations and high pH values. Complete nitrogen removal is also necessary where the receiving water is a water supply source for downstream users, since eutrophication and nitrate enrichment should be avoided. In the case of a wastewater with a low COD/TKN ratio, organic carbon content of the digested effluent may be insufficient to achieve complete denitrification and the addition of an external carbon source is then required. Earlier studies [3] have shown that nitrogen and carbon can be effectively removed from synthetic wastewaters using coupled aerobic and anaerobic filters, where methane production and denitrification will be encouraged to take place in the anaerobic filter while nitrification and final effluent polishing will take place in the aerobic filter. Attempts to carry out denitrification and methane production in a completely mixed reactor have not proved very effective [4] because nitrogen oxides have been found to inhibit (reversibly) methanogenic bacteria [5, 6]. Furthermore, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia can occur in the system depending on the type of carbon compounds present in the system. Consequently, biofilm reactors have been used in the combined denitrification/anaerobic digestion system because the Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 3. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 57 fixed nature of the media enables the creation of macro and micro-environments within the system, so that the different bacteria involved in the reactions can then grow and concentrate in zones within the reactor favourable to their metabolic activities [4, 7]. The use of biofilm reactors is good for wastewaters containing relatively small amounts of suspended solids. When the wastewater contains significant quantities of solids as in most textile and food processing wastewaters, the use of suspended growth reactors becomes inevitable, and presently very little has been done on nitrate reduction in suspended growth anaerobic systems. Studies with up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors have been reported [8], but UASB reactors have a very long start-up time for the granules to develop, thus limiting the scope of their application. This study therefore attempts to investigate the effectiveness of the combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor to treat textile wastewater in term of nitrogen removal. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Source of raw textile wastewater The industrial wastewater used was collected from a textile factory located in the Balakong, Selangor state, in Malaysia. The various waste streams from the dyeing, printing, washing, de-sizing, scouring, mercerizing, and bleaching operations were collected and combined together in a storage tank. Since the combined wastewater was in the alkaline pH range (8.7–10.8), the pH was adjusted to around the neutral mark by adding a concentrated solution (96%, w/w) of sulfuric acid (H2SO4), prior to feeding to the bioreactors, in order to minimize any potential toxic and/or inhibitory effects on the biomass [9, 10]. A summary of important influent characteristics is presented (Table 1). 2.2 Set up of experimental design A laboratory scale combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor was set up to investigate the effectiveness of the system to treat textile wastewater in term of nitrogen removal (Fig. 1). 2.2.1 Anaerobic reactor The anaerobic reactor, made of transparent PVC, has a diameter of 30 cm, height of 30 cm, and total working volume of 18 litres. The reactor was filled up with supporting particles (Cosmo ball) for immobilization of microorganism in the system, and a total of 2-liter active sludge from palm oil mill was collected from Hulu Langat, Malaysia and fed into the reactor. The total surface area of support material was 192.56m2. 2.2.2 Aerobic reactor The aerobic reactor is made of transparent PVC, has a diameter of 20 cm, height of 48 cm, and total working volume of 9 litre. A total of 1 liter sewage sludge from Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) was collected and fed into the aerobic reactor. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 4. 58 M. Ahmed et al Acclimatization of the aerobic sludge was not as critical as compared to anaerobic reactor due to primary function of the aerobic reactor was meant for polishing only. Air was supplied by a fine bubble diffuser; flow was regulated at 6 mg/l/min by a flow meter. Fig.1. Schematic Drawing of Combined Anaerobic- Aerobic System. The study was carried out in four different hydraulic retention times, 24, 18, 12, and 8 hours respectively, with the operating conditions showing in Table 2 which were divided into 4 phases. Each of the phases lasted for 14 days in order to allow biomass flocs to develop inside the reactors for biodegradation of the influent organic substrate. 2.3. Feeding criteria The first load of Textile wastewater with organic loading rate (OLR) 1 kg COD/liter/d was fed into anaerobic reactor on Week 1 and continued till the end of Week 2. The influent COD was kept almost constant (500 ppm) throughout the entire 14 days period. The OLR was subsequently increased to 2 kg COD/liter/d in Week 3 to Week 4. On Week 5 to Week 6, the OLR was increased to 3 kg COD/liter/d and finally raised up to 4 kg COD/liter/d for Week 7 to Week 8 to complete the 4 OLR in this study. The OLR is corresponding to the HRT of 24, 18, 12 and 8 hours respectively. The incremental increase of OLR was made after steady state conditions (SSC) were attained. The growth of new cells is offset by the death of old cells. SSC were considered to occur when the treated COD concentrations were constant for a period of 3-4 days. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 5. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 59 2.4 Analytical methods Liquid effluents were analyzed according to Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater [11]. The following parameters were determined, pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Volatile Suspended Solid (VSS), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Ammonia , Nitrate, and Nitrite. 3. Results and Discussion 3.1 Combined system acclimation For most industrial wastewaters, an acclimation period is necessary in order to gradually expose the microbial community to the potentially inhibitory or toxic organic compounds present. This allows for the development of appropriate enzyme- producing genes that are essential to induce biodegradation [12, 13]. In this study, the feeding pattern followed (described in section 2.3) appeared to be successful. It should be noted that despite the relatively low biodegradability potential of the wastewater used, acclimatized biomass was able to remove a much higher amount of organic matter. 3.2 Nitrogen removal In phase I where the HRT was around 24 and OLR applied was 1 kg COD/m3/d, anaerobic reactor achieved removal efficiency of 60%, while the aerobic system achieved 80% NH4-N removal (Fig. 2). In phase II the HRT was reduced to 18, and the OLR increased to 2 kg COD/m3/d, anaerobic reactor kept the previous value of removal efficiency (60%), while the aerobic reactor reached 85% in removal efficiency of NH4-N.The result from phases (III-IV) indicated that any further decrease in the HRT with the increase of OLR, result in the gradual reduction in the removal efficiency of the both reactors (Fig. 2). Fig.2. Effect of HRT on the Removal of Ammonia in the Combined System. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 6. 60 M. Ahmed et al It was found that the result of the final treated effluent in the aerobic system was low compared to the anaerobic system effluent. This was due to nitrification process, which had occurred in the aerobic system. The nitrification process was not 100% completed due to the high organic load and the time needed for regeneration of biofilm was too short to allow adequate colonization of nitrifying bacteria to occur [14]. Also the aeration time was too short to allow the completion of 100% nitrification process. Figure 3 shows the conversion of nitrate for the combined treatment plant. It showed that the nitrate conversion in the aerobic system was twice as high as in the anaerobic one. This is due to the conversion of ammonia to nitrite and from nitrite to nitrate. 60 50 Nitrate conversion (%) 40 Effluent Aerobic 30 20 Effluent Anaerobic 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Time (day) Fig. 3. Nitrate Conversion during the Treatment Process. 3.3 Influence of organic changes on nitrification Previous studies carried by Osada et al., [15], showed that organic such as BOD and COD of the influent and effluent of anaerobic have great influence on the nitrification process. The result of this study showed that the removal of NH4 increased with an increase of the organic loading materials and HRT. The COD/NH4 ratio also has an influence on the removal and efficiencies of the Anaerobic –Aerobic process. The result of this study showed that there was no effect of ammonia removal within the range of 0 to 2.0 of COD/NH4 ratio (Fig. 4). The optimum COD/NH4 ratio for removal of ammonia was 7.2. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 7. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 61 Ammonia Nitrogen Removal (%) 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 4 8 12 16 COD/NH4 Fig.4. The Relation of COD/NH4 Ratio and NH4-N removal (%). Lee et al. [16] reported that the ammonia removal efficiencies decreased with an increase in NH4 loading of wastewater. The result also showed that at influent COD/NH4 of 7.2, 9.9, and 14.7, the removal efficiencies in the combined system were 88%, 80%, and 69% respectively. Osada et al. [15] Confirmed that the optimum influent COD/NH4 ratio for nitrogen removal was around 14.0. At high influent COD/NH4 ratios, nitrogen removal efficiency was limited by incomplete ammonia oxidation, as the high organic load was not removed in the unaerated zone that affects the nitrification process. Although ammonia was completely oxidized for lower COD/NH4 ratios, there was also a corresponding build-up in the nitrite and nitrate concentration due to insufficient carbon for the denitrification [15]. 3.4 Influence of dissolved Oxygen and pH changes on nitrification The low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration significantly affect nitrification [17]. However, the results showed that the dissolved oxygen in this study was sufficient for the nitrification process although the results were higher than that reported by the other researcher (Table 3). Figure 5 showed the influence of dissolved oxygen on nitrification process, which indicated that, for each 5% changes in dissolved oxygen in aerobic reactor, 10% removal of nitrogen was achieved. So, it is clear that dissolved oxygen is one of the factors that affect the removal of nitrogen. Previous studies showed that, the nitrification rate was increased with increasing dissolved oxygen in the range of 1-3 mg/l and decreased with the range of 0.3-0.5-mg/l [20]. In order to achieve a NH4-N removal of above 60%, the dissolved oxygen concentration in the aerobic system should be maintained above 1 mg/l [21]. The higher the dissolved oxygen concentration, the higher the NH4-N removal obtained. The dissolved oxygen is Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 8. 62 M. Ahmed et al essential for nitrification process because it acts as an electron acceptor in the biochemical reaction involved. Therefore dissolved oxygen concentration must be higher than 2 mg/l in order to prevent the possibility of oxygen limitation. 100 90 80 NH4-N Removal 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 DO concentration (mg/l) Fig.5. Influence of Dissolved Oxygen on Nitrification. The pH value showed a slightly difference between the system. The average pH for anaerobic and aerobic system was 7.0 and 6.9 respectively. Figure 6 reflects the influence of pH on nitrification rate, it also showed that only little changes on nitrification rate, caused by pH range of 6.7-7.8. 1.6 1.4 NH4 Removal (%) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 pH Fig.6. Influence of pH of the Combined System on Nitrification. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 9. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 63 The optimum pH of this study was 8.3 and the nitrification rate will fall almost to zero at pH 9.6 and the nitrification decreases as the pH decreases. The optimum pH in previous studies for nitrification was in the range of 7.2-8.6. [22, 23]. Nitrification practically stops at pH below 6.3. In comparison with the results of this study, the pH obtained was still within the range of acceptable pH and will enhance the nitrification process. 3.5 Evaluation of denitrification rate The denitrification rate was varying during the 63 day of the process. The rate was largely dependent on the concentration of nitrate and volatile suspended solids on that day (Fig. 7). As seen from Fig. 7, the rate varies from 0.4 to 1.2 mg NO3/ mg VSS.day. The COD/NO3 ratio was approximately 5.26 and it was low compared to the previous studies. The relationship between COD/NO3 ratio and denitrification rate can be seen in Fig. 8, and it showed that for each 5% changes of COD/NO3 ratio, 0.2 denitrification rates was achieved. The minimum COD/NO3 ratio requirement for effective denitrification in anaerobic filters was reported to be between 7.5 and 9 [23]. Performance of a new biological aerated filter for complete nitrogen removal based on simultaneous nitrification and denitrification was evaluated by [24] using C/N ratio between 6 and 7.5. They also reported that if the ratio was higher than 7.5, the carbon was burned off by oxygen. Denit rification rat e (mgNO3/mg VSS.day) 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Time (day) Fig.7. Denitrification Rate over the Time. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 10. 64 M. Ahmed et al 1.4 Denitrification rate (mgNO3/ mg VSS) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 COD/NO3 Fig.8. The Relation of COD/NO3 Ratio and Denitrification Rate. 3.6 Influence of dissolved Oxygen and pH changes on denitrification Many investigators have reported various results for the influence of oxygen on the biochemistry of the denitrification process. Figure 9 shows the decreasing of denitrification rate with the increasing dissolved oxygen concentration. It appeared that the results from this study were comparable to previous studies (Table 4), with the facts that dissolved oxygen would inhibit denitrification process, if it was present in large amount. In addition, there was an explanation that oxygen either represses the formation of the enzyme nitrate reductase or acts as an electron acceptor, thereby preventing the reduction of nitrate [28]. Figure 10 Shows that the most suitable pH for denitrification process was below 8, and the rate of denitrification was reduced with increasing pH. Previous studies showed that, the effect of pH on nitrification was not significant if the denitrification was carried out between the ranges of pH 6.5-8 [20]. The optimal pH for denitrification varies with the types of organisms present but in general a neutral or slightly alkaline condition was suitable [29]. However, the range of pH value used for denitrification in previous studies was varied in the range of 7.0 to 7.5 [30]. 3.7 Organic removal Figures 11and 12 show the removal efficiency of BOD and COD on the combined anaerobic and aerobic system during the different HRT. It was observed that the removal rate of the both parameters (COD, BOD) in the aerobic system was higher when compared with that in the anaerobic system. In this study the anaerobic system Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 11. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 65 achieves final BOD removal value of 40% in the effluent, while 65% removal for the effluent in the aerobic system (HRT= 8) (Figure 11). In anaerobic system, the COD removal achieved in the effluent was 50% whereas the value of 75% in the aerobic system (HRT= 8) (Fig. 12). Denitrification rate(mg NO3/ mg VSS.day) 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 Dissolved oxygen (mg O2/l) Fig. 9. Influence of Dissolved Oxygen on Denitrification. 1.4 Denitrification rate (mg NO3/ mg VSS.day) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8 7 7.2 7.4 7.6 7.8 8 pH Fig.10. Influence of pH of the Combined System on Denitrification. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 12. 66 M. Ahmed et al Fig.11. Effect of HRT on BOD Removal of the Combined System. Fig.12. Effect of HRT on COD Removal of the Combined System. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 13. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 67 3.8 Effect of organic loading on the effluent quality The percentage of BOD removal ranges from 38% to 65% with various organic loading rates (OLR) for operational period, while for the performance based on the COD organic loading, the percentage removal was ranging from 35% to 60%. From the result obtained, it was found that the higher organic loading for BOD and COD, the higher the removal rate. It also had shown that the biological nitrogen removal (BNR) system has a low sensitivity on organic loading variations. The concentration of Total Suspended Solid (TSS) and Volatile Suspended Solid (VSS) in the final effluent was ranging from 10.0- 22.0 mg/l and 0.9- 32.2 mg/l respectively, while the percentage of removal rate for TSS and VSS are about 70.2% and 98.9% respectively. 4. Conclusions This study concluded that the combined anaerobic-aerobic system was able to treat high strength textile wastewater. The maximum removal of ammonia nitrogen, BOD, COD, VSS were 84.62%, 63.64%, 60% and 98.9% respectively. The concentrations level of ammonia nitrogen, BOD and COD in the final effluent were found to be 1.11 mg/l, 13.17 mg/l and 108.75 mg/l respectively. Dissolved oxygen, pH were shown to have only slight influences on the nitrification process; and for each 10% removal of nitrogen, only 3% of pH changes were achieved. The changes of COD/NO3 at 28% gave 0.06 mg NO3/VSS denitrification rate and this rate will decrease with increasing of dissolved oxygen concentration. References 1. Gurnhan, C. F. (1965). Industrial Waste Control. New York: Academic Press. 2. Lin, S. H. & Peng, C. F. (1996). Continuous treatment of textile wastewater by combined coagulation, electrochemical oxidation and activated sludge. Water Res., 30, 587-592. 3. Akunna J., Bizeau C., Moletta R., Bernet N. & Heduit A. (1994). Combined organic carbon and complete nitrogen removal using anaerobic and aerobic upflow filters. Water Sci. Technol., 30 (12), 297-306. 4. Akunna J. C., Bernet N. & Moletta R. (1998). Effect of nitrates on methanogenesis at low redox potential. Environ. Technol., 19, 1249-1254. 5. Chen, K.-C. & Lin, Y.-F. (1993). The relationship between denitrifying bacteria and methanogenic bacteria in a mixed culture system of acclimated sludge. Water Res., 27 (12), 1749-1759. 6. Clarens, M., Bernet, N., DelgeneÁ, J. P. & Moletta, R. (1998). Effect of nitrogen oxides and nitrate denitrification by Pseudomonas stutzeri on acetotrophic methanogenesis by Methanosarcina mazei. FEMS Microbiol.Ecol., 25 (3), 271- 276. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 14. 68 M. Ahmed et al 7. Chen, K.-C., Lin, Y.-F. & Houng, J.-Y. (1997). Performance of a continuous stirred tank reactor with immobilized denitrifiers and methanogens. Water Environ. Res., 69 (2), 233-239. 8. Hendriksen, H. V. & Ahring, B. K. (1996). Integrated removal of nitrate and carbon in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor: operating performance. Water Res., 30 (6), 1451-1458. 9. Wongwikraw, N. (2000). Color Removal from Textile Wastewater using Fenton’s Reagent in Conjunction with Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactors, M Sc. Thesis, Bangkok, Thailand, Mahidol University. 10. Yamasmit, A. (2000). Efficiency of an Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor in the Treatment of a Textile Wastewater, M.Sc. Thesis, Bangkok, Thailand :Mahidol University. 11. APHA. (1998). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (20th ed.) Washington, D.C.Bioeng: American Public Health Association. 86, 424-426. 12. Metcalf & Eddy. (2003).Wastewater engineering: Treatment and Reuse, (4th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. 13. Chin, H., Elefsiniotis, P., and Singhal, N. (2002). Wastewater treatment by combination methods.Proceedings of the 44th New Zealand Water and Wastes Association Annual Conference and Expo, Christchurch, New Zealand, 560-570. 14. Macro, A., Esplugas, S. and Saum, G. (1997). Use of sequencing batch reactors and Fenton’s reagent to treat a wastewater from a textile industry. Water Sci. Technol., 35 (4) 321-328. 15. Osada, T., Haga, K. and Harada, Y. (1991). Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from swine wastewater by the activated sludge units with the intermittent aeration process, Water Res., 25 (11), 1377-1388. 16. Lee, Y.D., Shin, E.B., Choi, Y.S., Yoon, H.S., Lee, H.S., Chung, I.J and Na, J.S. (1997).Biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater by a single sludge reactor. Water Res., 35 (16), 3968-3976. 17. Ahn, D.-H., Chang, W.-S., and Yoon, T.-I. (1999). Dyestuff wastewater treatment using chemical oxidation, physical adsorption and fixed bed biofilm process. Process Biochem., 34, 429-439. 18. Sutton P. M., Murphy K. L. & Dawson R. N. (1981). Low temperature biological denitrification of wastewater. J. Water Pollut. Control Fed. 47, 122-134. 19. Hao, K., Osada, T. and Harada Y. (1996). Characterization of piggery wastewater and the control of nitrogen and phosphorus. Envir. Inform. Sci., 18, 57-60. 20. Qasim, S. (1999).Wastewater Treatment Plants, Planning, Design, and Operation, (2nd ed.). Lancaster, PA: Technomic publishing Co. 21. Hsu, T. H. and Chiang, C. S. (1997). Activated sludge treatment of dispersed dye factory wastewater. J. Environ. Sci. Health, 32, 1921-1932. 22. Hofman, T. & Lees, H. (1953).The biochemistry of nitrifying organisms. IV. The respiration and intermediary metabolism of Nitrosomonas. Biochem. J., 54, 579- 583. 23. Rogalla, F. and Bourbigot, M.(1990). New developments in complete nitrogen removal with biological aerated filter. Water Sci. Technol., 22, 273–80. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)
  • 15. Anaerobic-Aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater 69 24. Puznava, M, Solisio, C. and Cevisola, G. (1999). Electrochemical remediation of copper (II) from an industrial effluent part II: three-dimensional foam electrodes. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 27, 299–307. 25. Henze, M. and Harremoes, P. (1983). Anaerobic treatment of wastewater in fixed film reactors - a literature review. Water Sci. Technol., 15, 1–101. 26. Van Haute, A. , Timmermans P. and. Gored , L. (1981). Denitrification with methanol. Fundamental study of the growth and denitrification capacity of Hypomicrobium sp. Water Res., 17, 1249-1255. 27. HarremoĂ«s, P., Haarbo, A., Winther-Nielsen, M. and Thirsing, C. (1998). Six years of pilot plant studies for design of treatment plants for nutrient removal. Water Sci. Technol., 38 (1), 219–26. 28. Meyer, U. (1981). Biodegradation of synthetic organic colorants. In Microbial Degradation of Xenobiotic and Recalcitrant Compounds, FEMS Symposium 12, ed. T. Leisinger, A. M. Cook, R. Hutter & J. Nuesch. London: Academic Press, 371-385. 29. Metcalf and Eddy. (1991). Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal and Reuse, (2nd ed.). New York, NY, USA: Inc., McGraw-Hill. 30. USEPA. (1975) .Process Design Manual for Nitrooen Control, Cincinnati, Ohio. Office of Technology Transfer. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology APRIL 2007, Vol. 2(1)