Pretreatment of Afyon alcaloide factory's wastewater by wet air oxidation (WAO)

WOS: 000180987400024PubMed ID: 12553993In this study, pretreatment of Afyon (Turkey) alcaloide factory, wastewater, a typical high strength industrial wastewater (chemical oxygen demand (COD) = 26.65 kg m(-3), biological oxygen demand (BOD5) = 3.95 kg m(-3)), was carried out by wet air oxidation process. The process was performed in a 0.75 litre specially designed bubble reactor. Experiments were conducted to see-the advantages of one-stage and two-stage oxidation and the effects of pressure, pH, temperature, catalyst type, catalyst loading and air or oxygen as gas source on the oxidation of the wastewater. In addition, BOD5/COD ratios of the effluents, which are generally regarded as an important index of biodegradability of a high-strength industrial wastewater, were determined at the end of some runs. After a 2 h oxidation (T = 150degreesC, P = 0.65 MPa, airflow rate = 1.57 x 10(-5) m(3) s(-1), pH = 7.0), the BOD5/COD ratio was increased from 0.15 to above 0.5 by using the salts of metals such as Co2+, Fe2+, Fe2+ + Ni2+, Cu2+ + Mn2+ as catalyst. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved