Characteristics of phenol degradation by immobilized activated sludge

The effects of various factors involved in phenol degradation through an immobilized activated sludge with a photo-crosslinked resin were investigated. The immobilized activated sludge showed a higher relative activity of phenol degradation across a broader range of pH than free activated sludge. A higher rate of phenol degradation was observed when the bead size was smaller. The phenol degradation in the free activated sludge was inhibited at the 3000 mg/L of phenol, while that in the immobilized activated sludge was maintained at the same concentration for 28 h without any inhibition. The degradation rates of phenol were not directly proportional to the increasing amount of immobilized bead dosage, but the phenol degradation was completed in a shorter time than that for the free activated sludge. For the repeated reaction of immobilized activated sludge, the relative activity is increased up to eight times after seven repeated initial cycles. Continued treatment of immobilized activated sludge showed more than 95% of phenol removal efficiency under a loading rate of 5.59 kg-phenol/(m3 d), which is twice as large as the loading rate for the free activated sludge.