Combined Electro-Fenton and Biological Processes for the Treatment of Industrial Textile Effluent: Mineralization and Toxicity Analysis

The longer time required for complete mineralization in the electro-Fenton (EF) process can be rectified by combining the EF process with a biological method. This paper analyzes textile wastewater treatment by integrating EF and biological processes. The removal of color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total organic carbon (TOC) by the EF process was 63, 48, and 29% respectively. Further treatment of this wastewater by a biological process resulted in removal of 85% of color, 86% of COD, and 56% of TOC. In addition, better mineralization of dyes requires integration of aerobic and microaerophilic conditions. The phytotoxicity and microbial toxicity analysis of the treated wastewater shows that there is a significant reduction of toxicity compared with the raw wastewater. Therefore it is recommended that the combined EF and biological degradation processes be applied in the treatment of textile wastewater for removing color, COD, and TOC effectively