An anaerobic baffled reactor for pentachlorophenol degradation

Abstract

In this paper, the performance of a well designed anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) under shock load was tested with pentachlorophenolic sodium (PCP‐Na). The reactor tested had a capacity of 16.2 L and consisted of 5 compartments. Normal operation conditions included a COD of 1150 mg/L and a PCP‐Na of 1.5 mg/L. The shock load was generated using a PCP‐Na influent at 17.5 mg/L. The experimental results demonstrated that the ABR system was able to cope with the toxic shock load tested. The determined acetate and methane production indicated that acidogens and methanogens in the first two compartments might be inactivated, but its impacts on the other compartments were relatively light and could quickly recover.