• Blog
  • Wastewater Testing
  • Bioaugmentation Applications
  • Useful Information
  • About Us
BIOLOGICAL WASTE TREATMENT EXPERT
Contact Us

Spills happen - what to do when you have influent with high phenol or other quasi-toxic organic

6/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Monitor the MLSS closely when introducing high strength waste streatms. Note protozoa and floc formation.
This one is more for industrial wastewater treatment systems, but the information could pertain to other biodegradable compounds that have potential to upset a biological treatment system.

Phenol shocks are one of the most common sources of upset in industrial wastewater treatment systems. While phenol is biodegradable, it was also the first antiseptic used in the 19th century. In industrial wastewaters, spikes in phenol often cause problems maintaining ammonia oxidation and in larger spikes can cause deflocculation. Among the marketed solutions are the use of oxidant pretreatment step and adding activated carbon to adsorb phenol. Another solution is to use equalization tanks to store the high phenol wastewater and then meter the strong wastewater back into the biological unit. Often the limiting factor for phenol treatment is the high oxygen demand for aerobic decompostion of phenol. Otherwise, bacteria including Pseudomonas and Rhodococcus species are very tolerant of high phenol concentrations and able to completely degrade phenol as a sole carbon source.

So if you have high phenol or other quasi-toxid organic released to your treatment system, here is the best protocol for protecting the biological treatment unit.
  • Divert the high strength water into storage or EQ tanks.
  • Ensure both N & P in the biological treatment unit is sufficient to maintain C:N:P ratios.
  • D.O. needs to be maintained above 2.0 mg/L to ensure needed biological activity. I have also used hydrogen peroxide metertedin the system to boost dissolved oxygen during high loading events. Bacterial catalase releases oxygen from peroxide. Be careful to not overdose peroxide which can damage biomass.
  • If spill has reached the system or not all the wastewater can be diverted, you can use powdered activated carbon to adsorb phenol.
  • If biomass has been damaged and fast recovery is important, adding bioaugmentation cultures can help speed up recovery and blunt the impact of high strength influent. Just make sure the cultures that you are adding are selected for the specific waste compounds. For example, what works on cellulose/starches is probably not the culture for phenol or solvents.
  • Monitor closely - this is extremely important. Use microscopic exam, oxygen uptake rates, ATP (if done), effluent turbidity/TSS, and ammonia residuals. If you see warning signs of moving backwards on the growth curve (out of decline phase growth), then stop forward flow from the storage tanks.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Erik Rumbaugh has been involved in biological waste treatment for over 20 years. He has worked with industrial and municipal wastewater  facilities to ensure optimal performance of their treatment systems. He is a founder of Aster Bio (www.asterbio.com) specializing in biological waste treatment.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

    Click to set custom HTML

    Archives

    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from Picturepest, marcoverch, perzonseowebbyra, Picturepest, Picturepest, dsearls, dungodung, Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, aqua.mech, vastateparksstaff, hile, Aaron Volkening, amishsteve, Neil DeMaster, mklwong88, KOMUnews, Picturepest, kaibara87