Hybrid anaerobic-aerobic biological treatment for real textile wastewater

In this study, working of hybrid anaerobic-aerobic biological treatment technology for real textile wastewater was investigated on the basis of system evaluation and optimization in two phases. In Phase I, system was optimized at laboratory scale on synthetic textile wastewater and later real textile wastewater was treated in Phase II. The study was conducted for 242 days in which industrial discharge coming from textile mill was collected and subjected to laboratory scale hybrid treatment. Activated sludge used in the process was obtained from full scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant and adapted to the synthetic and real textile wastewater using anaerobic process. Individual application of anaerobic treatment was found to be insufficient for the removal of COD, TKN and dyes. The proposed combine hybrid anaerobic-aerobic system was found to be effective in reporting removal efficiencies of 99.5% COD, 99.3% TKN, and 78.4% dyes. The anaerobic SBR added value to the hybrid system as it played a key role in improving treatment efficiency in addition to the production of sustainable energy source of biogas. Study shows that aerobic treatment is required to increase the treatment level by providing the final polishing to anaerobically treated effluent in order to reclaim water. The optimum HRT for hybrid anaerobic-aerobic system in treating real textile wastewater was found to be 54 h for maximum COD removal. The implication of this work is the industrial application of hybrid anaerobic-aerobic system for reuse of water in agricultural and industrial sectors.