Abstract
For the effective application of a modified packed bed biofilm reactor (PBBR) in wastewater industrial practice, it is essential to distinguish the tolerance of the system for heavy metals removal. The industrial contamination of wastewater from various sources (e.g. Zn, Cu, Cd and Ni) was studied to assess the impacts on a PBBR. This biological system was examined by evaluating the tolerance of different strengths of composite heavy metals at the optimum hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 hours. The heavy metal content of the wastewater outlet stream was then compared to the source material. Different biomass concentrations in the reactor were assessed. The results show that the system can efficiently treat 20 (mg/l) concentrations of combined heavy metals at an optimum HRT condition (2 hours), while above this strength there should be a substantially negative impact on treatment efficiency. Average organic reduction, in terms of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the system, is reduced above the tolerance limits for heavy metals as mentioned above. The PBBR biological system, in the presence of high surface area carrier media and a high microbial population to the tune of 10 000 (mg/l), is capable of removing the industrial contamination in wastewater.
Highlights
In recent times concerns have been raised about the contamination of the environment with heavy metals
The system was examined for two different quantities of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) concentration
It is theorised that heavy metal removal is dependent on the amount of available biomass; when there is an abundant amount of biomass there is a greater amount of removal [24, 25]
Summary
In recent times concerns have been raised about the contamination of the environment with heavy metals. The discharges of industrial wastes that contain heavy metals present a potential hazard to an aquatic environment [1,2,3,4] The elimination of these heavy metals contaminants can be accomplished by applying various established techniques to treat industrial wastewater streams, including methodologies that either reduce or precipitate via chemical means, ion exchange, electro-chemical methods and reverse osmosis. All these may prove unsuccessful, especially for solutions with 1 to 100 (mg/l) of metal concentrations [5,6,7,8]. High concentrations of heavy metals affect microbial activity in the system and impede biological wastewater process [4, 9]
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