Pilot study on biological treatment of waste pharmaceutical broth
Sustainable process-product development & green chemistry
Environmental Engineering & Management (T1-3)
Keywords: biological treatment, nitrification, pharmaceutical broth, pilot study, toxicity,
Industrial wastewaters consist of numerous compounds with variety of environmental characteristics and this is the reason why they should be effectively treated prior to their release into receiving environment.
The aim of our study was to investigate feasibility of waste pharmaceutical broth for biological treatment. It resulted from the fermentation of blood pressure regulators for human medicine. Broth was highly polluted, COD was up to 13,800 mg•L-1, while BOD5 was 7,600 mg•L-1. Treatment experiments were conducted in pilot aerobic biological wastewater treatment plant. Waste fermentation broth was mixed with municipal wastewater prior treatment. Biotreatability characterization was started by general physico-chemical analysis, ready biodegradability testing and toxicity assessment. Efficiency of wastewater treatment was monitored by determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the influent and effluent of the pilot plant. The performance of the treatment plant was also checked by following operational parameters.
Investigated wastewater was readily biodegradable and non-toxic to mixed culture of activated sludge microorganisms, which were also able to adapt to incoming wastewater quickly. In spite of that, wastewater treatment was effective only at lower wastewater loads, up to 6 vol.% of the pharmaceutical wastewater. At higher ones the system was overloaded and it collapsed. Inhibition of nitrification process was also observed at higher loads. The remained active substances were sufficiently removed during biological process. We have concluded that biological treatment could probably be improved by effective chemical pretreatment of the investigated wastewater.
