Anarobic protocol for assessing industrial waste treatability

摘要

Recent promulgation of strict standards for industrial waste pretreatment has greatly increased the number of wastewaters that are candidates for anaerobic treatment. The challenge with industrial wastes is to determine the potential for anaerobic biodegradation prior to investing large amounts of time and expense in design and field investigation. Various methods have been used to assess the treatability of industrial wastewaters, but the methodology has varied significantly~(1-5). In response to the need for a consistent procedure for determining the treatability of different industrial wastewaters by anaerobic processes, Young~6 developed an anaerobic treatability screening protocol. The purpose of this paper is to describe the protocol and to report a number of case studies in which the test protocol was used to determine the feasibility of using anaerobic processes for treating specific industrial wastes. Specific examples include food processing wastes, chemical production wastes, petroleum wastes, and landfill leachate. Treatability was based on assessment of the rate and extent of biodegradation, identification of the presence of toxic substances, and dilution effects.