Coupling of aerobic/anoxic and bioelectrogenic processes for treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater associated with bioelectricity generation

• Pharmaceutical wastewater was treated by integrating SBR with BET system .
• SBR is an effective pre-treatment processes for BET system.
• Electrochemical active bacteria in BET system resulted in bioelectrogenecity.

A sequential treatment strategy designed by integrating sequencing batch (anoxic/aerobic operation) reactor (SBR) with bio-electrochemical treatment (BET) was studied to enhance the remediation of real-field pharmaceutical wastewater (PW). Study was carried out by feeding PW to two SBR systems operated under aerobic (SBRAe) and anoxic (SBRAx) microenvironments. Comparatively higher substrate degradation (SD) and multi-pollutant removal was observed with SBRAx (68.69%) in comparison to SBRAe (60.27%), due to the switching of bacterial metabolism that facilitates redox reactions. In order to further enhance the treatment efficiency, the effluents resulting from SBRAx were fed to BET1 and SBRAe to BET2. Relatively higher bioelectrogenic activity and SD were exhibited by BET1 (Voltage: 536 mV; current: 1.21 mA; SD: 75%) than BET2 (Voltage: 323 mV; current: 2.67 mA; SD: 73%). Self-induced bio-potential developed in BET system due to electrode assembly enabled higher organic and inorganic compounds removal than SBR. Study illustrated the advantage of integration strategy in enhancing the treatment of PW with simultaneous bioelectricity generation.

Schematic representation of integrated treatment system with Sequential Batch Reactors (SBR) and Bio Electrochemical Treatment (BET) reactors.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide