Chemically enhanced biodegradation of high organic matter in wastewater – Confectionary plant effluents

The study explored the merit of chemically enhanced biodegradation of high organic matter as a sustainable treatment scheme for industrial wastewaters. For this purpose, an integrated, chemically enhanced activated sludge configuration was tested for confectionary effluents with a COD level of around 10.000 mg L^-1. In this configuration, chemical settling acted as a polishing step, which removed 50% of the total COD load, including 10% of colloidal COD in the soluble COD range. The sequential batch reactor, selected as the final biological treatment step, was able to remove the remaining biodegradable COD completely. The study primarily demonstrated the merit of in-plant pollution footprint assessment and wastewater characterization with significant COD fractions as necessary prerequisites for the management and final biodegradation of industrial wastewaters with high organic matter content.