title: Wet air oxidation induced enhanced biodegradability of distillery effluent.
abstract: The present study reports the feasibility of Wet Air Oxidation (WAO) as a pretreatment option for enhanced biodegradation of complex distillery effluent. Initially, the distillery effluent was pretreated by WAO at different process conditions (pressure, temperature and time) to facilitate enhancement in the biodegradability index (BI = BOD5: COD ratio). The biodegradability of WAO pretreated effluent was evaluated by subjecting it to aerobic biodegradation and anaerobic followed by aerobic biodegradation. Aerobic biodegradation of pretreated effluent with enhanced biodegradability index (BI = 0.4-0.8) showed enhanced COD reduction of up to 67.7%, whereas the untreated effluent (BI = 0.17) indicated poor COD reduction of only 22.5%. Anaerobic followed by aerobic biodegradation of pretreated effluent has shown up to 87.9% COD reduction, while the untreated effluent has shown only 43.1% COD reduction. Bio-kinetic parameters also confirmed the increased rate of bio-oxidation at enhanced BIs. The results indicate that the WAO pretreatment facilitates enhanced bio-oxidation/bio-degradation of complex effluents like the distillery spent wash.
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saratchandra
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tembhekar
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Padoley
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mudliar
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India; CSIR - Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India. Electronic address: sn_mudliar@neeri.res.in.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Mudliar
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D006813:Humidity; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007220:Industrial Waste; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D013696:Temperature; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Aerobic degradation; Anaerobic degradation; Biodegradability; Distillery effluent; Kinetics; Wet air oxidation