Combined anaerobic-ozonation process for treatment of textile wastewater: removal of acute toxicity and mutagenicity.

A novel set up composed of an anaerobic biofilm reactor followed by ozonation was used for treatment of artificial and real textile effluents containing azo dyes. The biological treatment efficiently removed chemical oxygen demand and color. Ozonation further reduced the organic content of the effluents and was very important for the degradation of aromatic compounds, as shown by the reduction of UV absorbance. The acute toxicity toward Vibrio fischeri and the shrimp Artemia salina increased after the biological treatment. No toxicity was detected after ozonation with the exception of the synthetic effluent containing the highest concentration, 1 g/l, of the azo dye Remazol Red. Both untreated and biologically treated textile effluents were found to have mutagenic effects. The mutagenicity increased even further after 1 min of ozonation. No mutagenicity was however detected in the effluents subjected to longer exposure to ozone. The results of this study suggest that the use of ozonation as short post-treatment after a biological process can be beneficial for the degradation of recalcitrant compounds and the removal of toxicity of textile wastewater. However, monitoring of toxicity and especially mutagenicity is crucial and should always be used to assess the success of a treatment strategy.

Azo dye decolorization by a laccase/mediator system in a membrane reactor: enzyme and mediator reusability.

This paper presents the use of a membrane-integrated reactor system with recycling of laccase and mediator for azo dye decolorization. From initial screening of different laccases and mediators, Trametes versicolor laccase and syringaldehyde provided the best system for decolorization. Decolorization yields of 98, 88, 80 and 78% were obtained for Red FN-2BL, Red BWS, Remazol Blue RR and Blue 4BL, respectively. The reaction parameters were optimized and a membrane reactor was set up for dye decolorization in batch mode with reuse of the enzyme. Between 10 and 20 batches could be run with decolorization yields from 95 to 52% depending on the dye type. To study the possibility of reusing both enzyme and mediator, the reactor was run using 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO) coupled to polyethylene glycol (PEG). Nine batches were run for the treatment of Remazol Blue RR, providing decolorization yields of 96-78%. Cost analysis of the processes showed that the costs of laccase/syringaldehyde or laccase/TEMPO were almost equal when running 20 batches, but the cost for the PEG-TEMPO was higher. However, the advantages associated with reuse of the mediator should motivate further development of the concept.