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Efficiency and kinetics in treatment of wastewater from garages and residential oil spills using membrane bioreactor technology
Sichinga, M.C.; Frazee, J. & Tong, A.Z.
Abstract
This research focused on the biodegradation of
petrogenic hydrocarbons in wastewater using membrane
bioreactor technology. Industrial oily wastewater with
mixed fractions of hydrocarbons was collected and continuously
treated for 50 days. Membrane bioreactor (MBR)
effluent samples were analyzed daily for both aliphatic and
aromatic hydrocarbons using gas chromatography–mass
spectrometry. Many other water quality parameters were
also measured including chemical oxygen demand, dissolved
oxygen, turbidity, heavy metals and heterotrophic
bacterial counts. These parameters were essential in evaluating
the performance of the MBR treatment process.
During the treatment period, 98.0, 96.0 and 99.8 %
removal of total aliphatic hydrocarbons in the lube oil
fraction, total aliphatic hydrocarbons and total polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, respectively, were achieved.
Overall, total organic removal, measured in terms of
chemical oxygen demand, ranged from 88.3 to 92.6 %.
Degradation kinetics was investigated for hydrocarbons
and chemical oxygen demand. Half-lives of alkanes varied
from several days to 40 days in the treatment process.
Therefore, this study demonstrated that MBR is an effective
treatment method for the removal of petroleum
hydrocarbons in wastewater.
Keywords
Half-life; Alkanes; Polycyclic aromatic; hydrocarbons; Effluent; Petroleum; Biodegradation
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