Experimental study on pressurized activated sludge process for high concentration pesticide wastewater

Pressurized biochemical process derived from traditional activated sludge processes is an innovative technology for wastewater treatment. The main advantage of the pressurized process is that the oxygen transfer barrier can be overcome by increasing the dissolved oxygen level. In this study, high concentration pesticide wastewater was treated by pressurized activated sludge process. It was found that the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased steadily with the increase of operating pressure, aeration time, and sludge concentration. When the operation pressure was 0.30 MPa and the aeration time was 6 hr, 85.0%-92.5% COD, corresponding to an effluent COD of 230-370 mg/L, was removed from an influent COD of 2500-5000 mg/L. The obtained outlet COD concentration was lower than 350-450 mg/L for the identical process operated under the atmospheric pressure. In addition, pressurized biochemical process could produce a higher COD volumetric loading rate at 5.8-7.6 kg COD/(m3·day), compared with 2.0-2.8 kg COD/(m3·day) using the same equipment at the atmospheric pressure. The COD concentration followed a modified Monod model with Vmax 2.31 day−1 and KS 487 mg/L.