Cosmetic wastewater treatment by a combined anaerobic/aerobic (ABR+UBAF) biological system

AbstractThe cosmetics industry has been growing steadily for the past several years in China, yet very few researches exist on cosmetic wastewater treatment system. This study gave new insight to develop a combined anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) and upflow biological aerated filter (UBAF) system for the treatment of cosmetic wastewater. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency in the cosmetic wastewater was mainly investigated in the front two compartments of ABR reactor, while it was treated by the same reactor with six compartments. When the influent COD load was set at 1.5 g COD/L.d, the COD removal efficiency reached a maximum in the No. 1 compartment. The highest COD removal efficiency achieved 2.0 g COD/L.d for the complete ABR reactor. The optimal hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the ABR was 48 h. A UBAF reactor was applied to advanced treatment for ABR effluent. The coke powder with the diameter of 0.5–1.0 mm and the gas-water ratio of 7:1 were chosen the optimal experimental conditio...