Potential of BAC combined with UVC/H2O2 for reducing organic matter from highly saline reverse osmosis concentrate produced from municipal wastewater reclamation

• The combined treatment gave ∼60% DOC and ∼50% COD reduction for the ROC.
• A synergistic effect of organics reduction was shown for the combined treatment.
• BAC exhibited a detoxification effect in treating the pre-oxidised ROC.

The organic matter present in the concentrate streams generated from reverse osmosis (RO) based municipal wastewater reclamation processes poses environmental and health risks on its disposal to the receiving environment (e.g., estuaries, bays). The potential of a biological activated carbon (BAC) process combined with pre-oxidation using a UVC/H2O2 advanced oxidation process for treating a high salinity (TDS ∼ 10 000 mg L−1) municipal wastewater RO concentrate (ROC) was evaluated at lab scale during 90 d of operation. The combined treatment reduced the UVA254 and colour of the ROC to below those for the influent of the RO process (i.e., biologically treated secondary effluent), and the reductions in DOC and COD were approximately 60% and 50%, respectively. UVC/H2O2 was demonstrated to be an effective means of converting the recalcitrant organic compounds in the ROC into biodegradable substances which were readily removed by the BAC process, leading to a synergistic effect of the combined treatment in degrading the organic matter. The tests using various BAC feed concentrations suggested that the biological treatment was robust and consistent for treating the high salinity ROC. Using Microtox analysis no toxicity was detected for the ROC after the combined treatment, and the trihalomethane formation potential was reduced from 3.5 to 2.8 mg L−1.