Microbial decolorization of reactive black-5 in a two-stage anaerobic-aerobic reactor using acclimatized activated textile sludge.

A two-stage anaerobic-aerobic treatment process based on mixed culture of bacteria isolated from textile dye effluent was used to degrade reactive black 5 dye (RB-5). The anaerobic step was studied in more detail by varying the dye concentration from 100 to 3000 mg l(-1). The results showed that major decolorization was achieved during the anaerobic process. The time required for decolorization by > 90% increased as the concentration of the dye increased. It was also found that maintaining dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration below 0.5 mg l(-1 )and addition of a co-substrate viz., glucose, facilitates anaerobic decolorization reaction remarkably. An attempt was made to identify the metabolites formed in anaerobic process by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV-VIS spectrophotometry. A plate assay was performed for the detection of dominant decolorizing bacteria. Only a few bacterial colonies with high clearing zones (decolorization zones) were found. The results showed that under anaerobic condition RB-5 molecules were reduced and aromatic amines were generated. The aromatic amine metabolite was partly removed in subsequent aerobic bio-treatment. It was possible to achieve more than 90% decolorization and approximately 46% reduction in amine metabolite concentration through two-stage anaerobic-aerobic treatment after a reaction period of 2 days.

A coupled photocatalytic-biological process for degradation of 1-amino-8-naphthol-3, 6-disulfonic acid (H-acid).

There has been growing emphasis on the development of coupled treatment systems (e.g., advanced oxidation-biological) for treating poorly biodegradable wastewater. An attempt has been made in the present study to couple photocatalytic (TiO2/UV) pretreatment with conventional activated sludge process to achieve improvement in the biodegradation of H-acid. The combination of titanium dioxide and UV light has been known to generate strong oxidants that degrade several organic pollutants into carbon dioxide via the formation of some intermediates. The intermediates formed may undergo biodegradation readily. Accordingly, photodegradation experiments were carried out initially at an optimized TiO2 dose and the minimum pretreatment time required for transforming H-acid was identified. For this purpose, UV-vis spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were extensively used. Subsequently, it was attempted to biodegrade untreated and pretreated H-acid using activated sludge from the textile industry acclimatized to H-acid. It was found that photocatalytic pretreatment of H-acid for 30 min, during which period approximately 8-10% chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal occurred, can be coupled to second-stage biological treatment for achieving enhanced biodegradation of H-acid.