The Effect of Concentration of Paranitrophenol on Efficiency of the Aerobic Biological Wastewater Treatment and the Production of Excess Sludge

The aim of this study is to reduce p-nitrophenol from wastewater using an SBR reactor for biological treatment of sewage and to study the effect of concentration of p-nitrophenol in wastewater on reduction of biomass production and sludge volume index. For this study, two SBR reactors with a volume of 20 liters with on-line control system were used. Once the stable conditions in the reactors are met, sampling and testing of parameters such as COD, MLSS, MLVSS, PH, DO, SV1, SOUR, and p-nitotrophenol (PNP), as well as the rate of reduction in production of biological solids were performed during the 12 months of research. The results showed that for the inserted amount of more than 100 mg/l of PNP, the COD decreased from 772 to 193 mg/l while the COD removal efficiency decreased to 75% and the PNP concentration decreased to 36.7 mg/l. The biodegradable solids decreased by about 49.5% relative to the control reactor. On the other hand, in this dose of PNP, the amount of SOUR was 31 mg O2/h, and VSS and the SVI value was less than 48 ml/g.  For the PNP dose of 150 mg/l, no biosolids was produced in the reactor but COD and PNP levels increased in the effluent. The presence of toxic organic compounds such as p-nitrophenol in high concentrations in the wastewater while reducing the removal efficiency of the organic matter decreases the biological solids and thus reduces the amount of excess sludge.