BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATERS AND OTHER CONTAMINATED AQUEOUS STREAMS: SELECTION OF BIOREACTOR ALTERNATIVES

The ideal bioreactor configuration for treatment of organic or inorganic contaminants present in industrial wastewaters or other aqueous streams, will operate efficiently while achieving the design performance objective. Bioreactor systems such as the conventional activated sludge system, sequencing batch reactor systems and trickling filter systems, typically designed for operation at lower volumetric removal rates, are often selected for applications under site conditions where space constraints are not a factor and/or other conditions which render them acceptable. This paper presents a general framework for selecting the optimal bioreactor configuration when site specific conditions dictate reactor efficiency is an important consideration. The approach will be illustrated by full scale case studies involving application of membrane biological reactor (MBR) systems and an integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) system for treatment of different industrial wastewaters, and fluidized bed reactor (FBR) systems for treatment of industrial wastewater and contaminated groundwater.