Treatment of Industrial Waste Water using Single-Stage Rotating Biological Contactor

Abstract

This paper presents treatment of industrial waste water using a single-stage Rotating Biological contactor (RBC). A RBC unit typically consists of a series of closely spaced large flat or corrugated discs that are mounted on a common horizontal shaft and are partially or completely submerged in wastewater. The shaft continually rotates by a mechanical motor or a compressed air drive and a bio film is established onto the entire surface area of the media, which metabolizes the organic materials contained in the wastewater. Microorganisms get attached to and grow on these discs. The discs mounted on the surface of a rotating shaft are usually made up of different forms of plastic such as polypropylene or polyurethane. For this study, shaft of RBC is wrapped with polypropylene foam as bio-film medium. From the analysis of results obtained for the present study it has been found that, polypropylene foam as a bio-media can remove organic matter up to 91.2%, nitrate up to 86.2% and phosphate up to 96.3% for 48 hr of hydraulic retention time.