Degradation of Hardly Degradable Compounds in the Photoprocessing Waste Solution with Biological Activated Carbon

Abstract

Biological treatment is considered as the ultimate treatment process for degradation of photoprocessing waste solution due to its low environmental impact. But it still has the problem of incomplete degradation, since photoprocessing waste solution contains hardly degradable compounds such as Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (edta).
In the present study, we found that BAC (Biological Activated Carbon) degraded Fe (III) edta and the other hardly degradable compounds which remained after activated sludge treatment of photoprocessing waste solution. The degradation rate of Fe (III) edta and the other hardly degradable compounds by BAC was 0.042, 0.052 mg · d^-1 · g-AC^-1, respectively. The ability of BAC to degrade the hardly degradable compounds was enhanced by co-metabolism.