Biological Treatment of Synthetic Oilfield-Produced Water in Activated Sludge Using a Consortium of Endogenous Bacteria Isolated from A Tropical Area

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the biological treatment of synthetic oilfield-produced water in activated sludge in an attempt to remove the organic compounds using endogenous bacteria; we also hope to determine the biokinetic coefficients. The activated sludge was operated with various hydraulic retention times (HRT=20 hours, 12 hours, 8 hours), solid retention times (SRT=25 days, 20 days, 15 days, 10 days), and substrate concentrations (500 mg L-1 to 1,100 mg L-1). The endogenous bacterial strains, which were isolated from existing wastewater treatment facilities, were identified as Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacter sp., Bacillus sp1., and Bacillus sp2. It was observed that the highest COD removals were obtained in reactors A (80.7%) and B (82.4%), which had high SRTs (25 days and 20 days) and HRT (20 hours). At shorter SRTs (15 days and 20 days), the concentration of the COD effluent did not comply with the Indonesian regulations for oilfield-produced water quality standards, which means that these SRTs were not recommended as appropriate operational conditions. Furthermore, the results showed that the yield (Y), decay coefficient (kd), maximum specific growth rate (k), and saturation constant (Ks) were 0.533 mg MLVSS mg-1 COD, 0.167 day-1, 0.985 day-1, and 255.46 mg COD L-1, respectively. These biokinetic coefficients (obtained from the Y and Ks values) indicated that although the strains of bacteria can grow well in the reactor, they had low affinities to the substrate, which caused the concentration of the COD effluent to be relatively high.