Original scientific paper
Published in: Holistic Approach Environ. 7(2017) 3, pp. 135 – 151
Paper reference number: HAE-139
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KINETICS OF AEROBIC TREATMENT OF TWO-PHASE OLIVE-MILL WASTE BY ACTIVED SLUDGE IN SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR

Dajana Kučić^*, Marija Vuković Domanovac^*, Felicita Briški^*

^* University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Department of Industrial Ecology, Zagreb, Croatia

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ABSTRACT

Olive mill waste has a very high organic load, high amount of toxicity/phytotoxicity-associated compounds, low pH value and high electrical conductivity. In this study, the removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand) and total phenols from extracted wastewater (EW) from two-phase olive-mill waste (TPOMW) in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was studied. The experiments were carried out at 23 °C with the initial COD concentration of 5 g L^-1 and 10 g L^-1 at different initial concentrations of activated sludge (3 and 6 g L^-1). The obtained results showed that activated sludge possessed a strong ability to degraded organic matter and total phenols. The COD and phenols removal efficiency was between 80 – 90 %. Toxicity Impact Index (TII₅₀) was 312.5 which indicated that this wastewater is extremely toxic. Four different kinetic models were select to describe the kinetics of TPOM W biodegradation. The lowest deviation and the best fit with experimental data were achieved using Endo-Haldane model.

Keywords: activated sludge, kinetic analysis, olive mill wastewater, SBR
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