Effects of combining biological treatment and activated carbon on hexavalent

A.M. FERRO OROZCO ; E.M. CONTRERAS ; N.E. ZARITZKY

BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011 vol. 102 p. 2495 - 2502

0960-8524

The objectives of the present work were: (a) to analyze the Cr(VI) removal by combining activated sludge (AS) with powdered activated carbon (PAC), (b) to analyze the effect of PAC and Cr(VI) on the growth kinetics of activated sludge, and (c) to determine if the combined method (AS-PAC) for Cr(VI) renoval can be considered additive or synergistic with respect to the individual processes. Chromate renoval was improved by increasing PAC concentrations in both PAC and AS-PAC systems. Cr(VI) removal using the AS-PAC system was higher than using AS or PAC. The increase of Cr(VI) caused longer lag phase and lower observed specific growth rate (lobs), biomass yield (YX/S), and specific growth substrate consumption rate (qS) of activated sludge; additionally, PAC did not enhance the growth kinetic parameters (lobs, YX/S, qS). Cr(VI) reduction in AS-PAC system was the result of the additive effect of each individual Cr(VI) removal process.