Biological degradation of catechol in wastewater using the sequencing continuous-inflow reactor (SCR)

Catechol is used in many industries. It can be removed from wastewater by various methods but biological processes are the most superior and commonly used technology. The SCR is a modified form of SBR used to degrade catechol. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of SCR for biodegradation and mineralization of catechol under various inlet concentrations (630–1500 mg/L) and hydraulic retention times (HRT) (18–9 h). This study used a bench scale SCR setup to test catechol degradation. The acclimation time of biomass for catechol at degradation at 630 mg/L was 41 d. The SCR operating cycle time was 6 h and the consecutive times taken for aerating, settling and decanting were 4, 1.5 and 0.5 h, respectively. This study investigated the effects of inlet catechol concentration (630–1560 mg/L) and HRT (18–9 h). The average catechol removal efficiencies in steady-state conditions of 630, 930, 12954 and 1559 mg/L of catechol were 98.5%, 98.5%, 98.2% and 96.9% in terms catechol and 97.8%, 97.7%, 96.4% and 94.3% for COD, respectively. SCR with acclimated biomasses could effectively remove the catechol and the corresponding COD from wastewater with concentrations of up to 1560, at the loading rate of 5.38 kg COD/m3.d and at a HRT of up to 13 h. The HRT was determined as an important variable affecting catechol removal from wastewater. Reducing the HRT to below 13 h led to reduced removal of catechol and COD.