Treatment of High Strength Wastewater from Specialty Chemical Manufacturing Plants Using Activated Sludge

Due to the rising cost and environmental impact of off-site wastewater disposal, specialty chemical manufactures are beginning to consider on-site treatment options for their highest strength waste streams. Activated sludge is an appealing treatment tech nology due to its ability to degrade complex organic compounds found in these high strength industrial wastewaters. In order to verify that activated sludge is a viable treatment technology for a specific substrate(s), a batch or continuous flow treatability study is recommended. The study can also be used to confirm design parameters necessary to implement a full-scale system. This paper presents the results of two such treatability studies. In both cases, the wastewaters were found to be highly degradable, and wastewater treatment designs were developed as well as accompanying economic evaluations that allowed the chemical manufactures to make informed decisions regarding the potential to treat waste streams on-site that are currently hauled away for off-site disposal.