Impact of chemical oxidation on biological treatment of a primary municipal wastewater. 2. Effects of ozonation on kinetics of biological oxidation

Activated sludge biological oxidation of municipal wastewaters has been applied under different experimental conditions to observe the effect of preozonation on COD and process kinetics. In all cases, previous application of ozone allows significant improvement of COD level reduction during subsequent biological oxidation. Biomass concentration also exerts a positive influence on COD level reduction. Thus, 54 and 82% COD level reductions are achieved after biological oxidation without and with 30 minutes of preozonation. During the ozonation period, increase of pH from 2 to 9 leads to 15 to 24% COD level reductions, but biological oxidation should be followed at neutral pH since extreme conditions (pH 2 and 9) reduce considerably the biomass concentration and hence the yield of biodegradation. At the conditions investigated herein, there is an optimum ozone dose, 150 mg per liter of wastewater treated, that leads to the maximum COD level reduction in the combined process (chemical plus biological oxidation). Both single biological oxidation and combined with preozonation follows a Monod kinetic model assuming COD as the substrate of biomass. From kinetic results it is confirmed that a combination of chemical and biological oxidation leads to the highest maximum specific rates of COD consumption.