Aerobic biological treatment of opium alkaloid wastewater - effect of gamma radiation and fenton's oxidation as pretreatment


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mühendislik Fakültesi, Çevre Mühendisliği Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2008

Öğrenci: CAVİT BURAK BURAL

Danışman: FİLİZ BENGÜ DİLEK

Özet:

In this study, aerobic biological treatment of opium alkaloid wastewater and the effect of gamma preirradiation and fenton’s oxidation were investigated. First, the biodegradability of alkaloid wastewater was investigated by batch reactors and wastewater was found to be highly biodegradable providing 83 90 % COD degradation. In order to evaluate the effect of irradiation, original wastewater and irradiated wastewaters (40 & 140 kGy) were compared by means of BOD5/COD values and through aerobic batch experiments. Results indicated that irradiation imparted no further enhancement in biodegradability. Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) studies revealed that the treatment operation was not possible due to sludge settleability problem observed beyond an influent COD value of 2 g/L. Possible reasons for problem were investigated, and the high molecular weight, larger size and aromatic structure of the organic matters present in wastewater was thought to contribute to poor settleability characteristics. Some operational modifications including phosphate buffer addition cured the settleability problem. Influent COD was then increased to 5,000 mg/L. Significant COD removal efficiencies (> 70 %) were obtained in SBRs fed with both original and irradiated wastewaters. Preirradiated wastewater provided a better settling sludge in comparison to original wastewater. Degradation of the complex structure was followed by GC/MS analyses, particle size measurements and enhancement in filterability. Pre-irradiation enhanced the filterability of wastewater more than Fenton’s treatment and degradation by irradiation was proved by GC/MS analyses.