Treatment of heavy metal-containing industrial wastewater by the multistage rotating biological contactor

摘要

The ability of a three-stage rotating biological contactor (RBC) to treat industrial wastewater with copper and zinc was investigated. The optimuM operation parameters of the whole system for the maximum COD removal is HRT 15h and rotating speed 9 rpm. The system successfully removed the zinc and copper with the removal efficiency 90% and 71% respectively. Analysis of the contribution of each stage of RBC indicated that COD and metal removal were not uniform, with first stage showing a much higher removal capacity than the second and third stages.