Respirometric evaluation of a mixture of organic chemicals with different biodegradation kinetics

Emine Ubay Cokgor*, Güçlü Insel, Egemen Aydin, Derin Orhon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The study evaluated the biodegradation characteristics of a mixture of organics with different biodegradation characteristics in an integrated chemical plant effluent. The wastewater had a total chemical oxygen demand (COD) content of 12,800 mg/L, mostly soluble and 93% biodegradable. The evaluation was based on respirometry, and mainly consisted on model calibration and interpretation of the oxygen uptake rate data, which exhibited an original and specific profile with a sequence of two peaks and three plateaus. A specific model was defined for this purpose, which identified four different biodegradable COD components with significantly different process kinetics. The major fraction accounting for 57% of the total biodegradable COD in the wastewater had to be hydrolyzed before biodegradation with a low hydrolysis rate of 1.3 day-1. The analysis of the experimental data showed that the oxygen utilization started with a delayed response after substrate addition. The delayed logarithmic phase could be characterized by a Haldane type of inhibition kinetics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)35-41
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume161
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2009

Keywords

  • Biodegradation
  • Chemical industry
  • Modeling
  • Process kinetics
  • Substrate inhibition

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