Use of Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) in Treatment of Wood Fiber Wastewater

Wood fiber industries are producing large amounts of wastewater, which are discharged into the environment everyday. This type of wastewater with high pollution potential in suspended solids, COD and color, are required to be treated before entering to the receiving environment. North part of Iran is covered by huge land of forests. Several pulp and paper industries are located in the area. One of these industries is Iran Wood Fiber Company in which many researches have been done in both laboratory and pilot scale by the main author in recent years. One of the studies was to investigate the Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) efficiency for treating the wastewater. Considering parameters such as influent COD, detention time, nutrient concentration, and their effects on COD, turbidity and total solids removal efficiency of the system, four serial SBRs in laboratory scale were investigated. The results of the system with 10 hours detention time, 1000-2500 mg/L COD and 100:5.1:1 C/N/P had the best efficiency with 92, 84, 52 percent removal for COD, turbidity and total solids, respectively. Pilot scale plant studies using SBRs were also done in the company. The results indicated good removal efficiencies that also discussed in this paper.