Issue 6, 2020

Integration of aerobic granulation and UV/H2O2 processes in a continuous flow system for the degradation of sulfolane in contaminated water

Abstract

Sulfolane contamination has increasingly become a major environmental concern around the world with emerging reports of groundwater, drinking water wells and soil contamination. In this study, a novel approach of integrating aerobic granulation technology with UV/H2O2 process in a continuous flow-through operation sequence was investigated to remediate sulfolane contaminated waters. The new hybrid technology was able to eliminate more than 99.99% of sulfolane in less than 6.3 h of combined retention time. The degradation kinetics of sulfolane were evaluated in batch and continuous flow operation which showed zero and first order for aerobic granulation and UV/H2O2 processes, respectively. In addition, the flow-through system was able to generate and maintain a healthy aerobic granular system characterized by a stable MLVSS/MLSS ratio as well as elemental and bacterial community compositions within the granules. H2O2 concentration was a crucial element for sulfolane degradation in UV/H2O2 process and various key factors were also identified that govern residual H2O2 concentration in UV/H2O2 effluents.

Graphical abstract: Integration of aerobic granulation and UV/H2O2 processes in a continuous flow system for the degradation of sulfolane in contaminated water

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Nov 2019
Accepted
03 Mar 2020
First published
06 May 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2020,6, 1711-1722

Integration of aerobic granulation and UV/H2O2 processes in a continuous flow system for the degradation of sulfolane in contaminated water

M. F. Khan, L. Yu, J. Hollman, J. H. Tay and G. Achari, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2020, 6, 1711 DOI: 10.1039/C9EW01048C

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