Improved purified terephthalic acid wastewater treatment using combined UAFB-SBR system: At mesophilic and ambient temperature

摘要

In this study, a combined UAFB-SBR process was introduced to improve the treatment efficiency of PTA wastewater. The techno-economic feasibility of the process was evaluated in terms of organic removal efficiencies under mesophilic (37 degrees C) and ambient temperature (15-25 degrees C) during the long-term run. The lab-scale study revealed that all organic compounds present in the PTA wastewater could be efficiently removed under both mesophilic and ambient temperature, and p-toluic acid is probably the critical pollutant regulating the overall process performance in anaerobic stage, which should be seriously considered. The Miseq Sequencing results suggested that, along with the system temperature variation from mesophilic to ambient temperature, greater effects on bacterial community than archaeal community were detected in the UAFB reactor, while only slight variations were observed in the SBR reactor. Further taxonomy analysis demonstrated that within the UAFB reactor, the syntrophic partnership of Syntrophorhabdus, Syntrophus and Desulfovibrio with hydrogenotrophic methanogens were the main impetus for aromatic organics reduction. In the meanwhile, the intensively identified Thauera and Azoarcus groups were speculated of important roles in the aerobic degradation of aromatic compounds. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.