Detoxification of pesticide-containing wastewater with FeIII, activated carbon and Fenton reagent and its control using three standardized bacterial inhibition tests

Abstract

Discharge of toxic industrial wastewaters into biological wastewater treatment plants may result in inhibition of activated sludge bacteria (ASB). In order to find an appropriate method of detoxification, the wastewater of a pesticide-processing plant in Vietnam was treated with three different methods (FeIII, powdered activated carbon (PAC), Fenton (FeII/H2O2)) analyzing the detoxification effect with the nitrification inhibition test (NIT), respiration inhibition test (RIT) and luminescent bacteria test (LBT). The heterotrophic ASB were much more resistant to the wastewater than the autotrophic nitrificants. The NIT turned out to be more suitable than the RIT since the NIT was less time-consuming and more reliable. In addition, the marine Aliivibrio fischeri were more sensitive than the nitrificants indicating that a lack of inhibition in the very practical and time-efficient LBT correlates with a lack of nitrification inhibition. With 95%, the Fenton method showed the highest efficiency regarding the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. Although similar COD removal (60–65%) was found for both the FeIII and the PAC method, the inhibitory effect of the wastewater was reduced much more strongly with PAC. Both the NIT and the LBT showed that the PAC and Fenton methods led to a similar reduction in the inhibitory effect.