An assessment on the performance of activated carbon augmented by activated sludge for removing Methylene blue

The presence of color in industrial wastewaters is a threat to the environment, so color removal from wastewaters is obligatory. In the present study, the performance of activated carbon augmented by activated sludge for removing Methylene blue from wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was investigated. The effects of three independent variables including: activated carbon concentration, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration, and aeration time on the process performance were assessed. From the results, the maximum color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal were achieved at 6,000 mg/L, 200 mg/L, and 6 h of MLSS concentration, activated carbon concentration and aeration time, respectively. Also, to clear the effect of activated sludge on the adsorption of the Methylene blue, two parallel SBR with two different processes including: activated carbon and activated carbon augmented by activated sludge were operated for 48 h. The outcomes showed that color and COD removal for activated carbon augmented by the activated sludge process was significantly higher compared to the activated carbon process.

Automated summary

This study found that the combination of activated carbon and activated sludge in wastewater treatment can more effectively remove color and COD compared to using activated carbon alone.