Effect of Fenton Reaction Time on the Performance of Fenton-SBR Process for Antibiotic Wastewater Treatment

The study was undertaken to examine the effect of Fenton reaction time on the performance of Fenton-SBR process for antibiotic wastewater treatment. Fenton reaction time is considered an important variable in the Fenton process. As Fenton reaction time increased, BOD5/COD ratio of the Fenton-treated effluent increased. SBR efficiency was very sensitive to BOD5/COD ratio below 0.40. SBR efficiency in terms of sCOD removal decreased from 77±3% at BOD5/COD ratio 0.48 to 41±1% at 0.26. The best Fenton reaction time for treatment of the antibiotic wastewater in this study was 90 min. At Fenton-SBR operating conditions of 45 mM H2O2, 0.45 mM Fe2+ (H2O2/ Fe2+ molar ratios 100), pH 3 and 90 min reaction time, and 12 hr hydraulic retention time in SBR, the Fenton-SBR efficiency was 90% for sCOD removal and final sCOD was 55±3 mg/L, which met the requirement of the Malaysian Standard (B).