Combined Anaerobic-aerobic System for Treatment of Textile Wastewater

Textile manufacturing consumes a considerable amount of water in its manufacturing processes. The water is primarily utilized in the dyeing and finishing operations of the textile establishments. Considering both the volume generated and the effluent composition, the textile industry wastewater is rated as the most polluting among all industrial sectors. In this study a combined anaerobic-aerobic reactor was operated continuously for treatment of textile wastewater. Cosmo balls were used to function as growth media for microorganisms in anaerobic reactor. Effect of pH, dissolved oxygen, and organic changes in nitrification and denatrification process were investigated. The results indicated that over 84.62% ammonia nitrogen and about 98.9% volatile suspended solid (VSS) removal efficiency could be obtained. Dissolved oxygen (DO), pH were shown to have only slight influences on the nitrification process; and for each 10% removal of nitrogen, only 3% of pH changes were achieved.