Abstract
In recent years, effective methods for treatment of non-biodegradable substances have been required. 2-tertiary butoxy ethanol (ETB) is a non-biodegradable compound with tertiary and ether structure. Biological treatment of industrial wastewater containing the ETB was carried out experimentally in an activated sludge aeration tank.
In the case of treatment of wastewater containing the ETB as a single substrate, it was shown to accumulate a product in the aeration tank. The product was not accumulated by coexisting with the ETB and the other substrates in the influent wastewater. Under the condition of inlet substrate concentration and hydraulic retention time, removal efficiency of the ETB on coexisting with the ETB and biodegradable substrates was higher than that on coexisting with the ETB and non-biodegradable substrates.
The microorganisms which treated the ETB effectively were obtained by the step-shortening operation of hydraulic retention time.
