Biological treatment of saline wastewaters from marine-products processing factories by a fixed-bed reactor

Wastewaters generated by a factory processing marine products are characterized by high concentrations of organic compounds and salt constituents (>30g dm(-3)). Biological treatment of these saline wastewaters in conventional systems usually results in low chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency, because of the plasmolysis of the organisms. In order to overcome this problem a specific flora was adapted to the wastewater from the fish-processing industry by a gradual increase in salt concentrations. Biological treatment of this effluent was then studied in a continuous fixed biofilm reactor. Experiments were conducted at different organic loading rates (OLR), varying from 250 to 1000 mg COD dm(-3) day'. Under low OLR (250 mg COD dm(-3) day), COD and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiencies were 92.5 and 95.4%, respectively. Thereafter, fluctuations in COD and TOC were observed during the experiment, provoked by the progressive increase of OLR and the nature of the wastewater introduced. High COD (87%) and TOC (99%) removal efficiencies were obtained at 1000mg COD dm(-3) day. (C) 2002 Society of Chemical Industry.