Abstract

Saeed Reza Asemi¹*, Mehdi Borghei and Amir Hessam Hassani²

In the present work an attempt is made to study the role of microbial population on bioregeneration of granular activated carbon (GAC) loaded with phenol compounds in continues bioreactor. The GAC used to treat industrial wastewater of the Mobarakeh steel factory (EsfahanIran), is regenerated by means of biological method. Industrial microbes that obtained from the chemical wastewater treatment unit (in the Mobarakeh steel factory), were used in the bioregeneration process of activated carbon. The relationships between each two important parameters of bioregeneration such as adsorbed phenol, pH, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), total suspended solids (TSS) and sludge volume index (SVI) were studied. It was observed that the adsorption capacity of the bioregenerated GAC increased during the two months of bioregeneration. Furthermore, it was found that pH gradually decreased with degradation of chemical compounds within pores of used GAC. The phenol adsorption capacity increased with increasing microbial cells concentration. In addition, the sludge volume index (SVI) decreased from around 231.11 mL mg-1 to 32.68 mL mg-1 during two months of bioregeneration of used GAC. While microbial concentration increases during the bioregeneration process in continues bioreactor.

Activated carbon (AC); Bioregeneration (BR); Adsorbed phenol; Microbial population; Chemical wastewater

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