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Improvement of biodegradability of PVA-containing wastewater by ionizing radiation pretreatment

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Abstract

Background

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has been widely used as sizing agents in textile and manufacturing industry, and it is a refractory compound with low biodegradability.

Objective

The objective of this paper was to treat the PVA-containing wastewater using gamma irradiation as a pretreatment strategy to improve its biodegradability and to determine the roles of different kinds of radical species played during pretreatment.

Methods

Gamma radiation was carried out in a 60Cobalt source station, PVA concentration was analyzed by using a visible spectrophotometer and specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR, milligram of O2 per gram of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) per hour) was measured by a microrespirometer.

Results

The results showed that the biodegradability of PVA-containing wastewater with low initial concentration (e.g., 327.8 mg/l) could be improved greatly with increasing irradiation dose. However, PVA gel formation was observed at higher initial PVA concentration (e.g., 3,341.6 mg/l) and higher irradiation dose, which inhibited PVA degradation by aerobic microorganisms. However, the formed gel could be separated by microfiltration, which led to more than 90% total organic carbon (TOC) removal.

Conclusion

Ionizing radiation could be used as a pretreatment technology for PVA-containing wastewater, and its combination with biological process is feasible.

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Acknowledgments

This study was accomplished under the National High Technology Research and Development Program (No. 2009AA063905) supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Independent Research Project (No. 20101081929) supported by Tsinghua University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Weihua Sun, Jinping Tian & Lujun Chen

  2. Laboratory of Environmental Technology, INET, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Shijun He & Jianlong Wang

Authors
  1. Weihua Sun
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  2. Jinping Tian
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  3. Lujun Chen
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  4. Shijun He
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  5. Jianlong Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lujun Chen.

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Responsible editor: Hailong Wang

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Sun, W., Tian, J., Chen, L. et al. Improvement of biodegradability of PVA-containing wastewater by ionizing radiation pretreatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 3178–3184 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0821-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0821-4

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