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Enhancement of the biodegradability of model wastewater containing recalcitrant or inhibitory chemical compounds by photocatalytic pre-oxidation

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Abstract

m-Dinitrobenzene, diphenylamine and resorcinol, threearomatic compounds found inhibitory or recalcitrant tobiological treatments, were chosen as model chemicalsfor this study on the integration ofphotocatalytic-biological treatments. The degradationof each of these compounds was achieved by ultravioletphotocatalytic oxidation, leading to the formation ofintermediate compounds. The photocatalytic treatmentwas performed in a TiO2 slurry reactor containingan aqueous solution of one of the three chemicals. Thebiodegradability of model wastewater treatedphotocatalytically was measured in terms ofBOD1/TOC. Intermediate compounds that appeared atearly stages of the photocatalytic degradation ofm-dinitrobenzene or diphenylamine seemed to be moreinhibitory than the parent compounds but this was notthe case for resorcinol. A substantial improvement inBOD1/TOC could be achieved, but it required themineralization of at least 80% of the organic carbonoriginally in the water. Microtox® toxicityresults confirmed the BOD1/TOC trends fordiphenylamine.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3G1

    Lysane Bolduc & William A. Anderson

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  1. Lysane Bolduc
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  2. William A. Anderson
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Bolduc, L., Anderson, W.A. Enhancement of the biodegradability of model wastewater containing recalcitrant or inhibitory chemical compounds by photocatalytic pre-oxidation. Biodegradation 8, 237–249 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008221222846

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