Treatment of pharmaceutical industry process wastewater using the extractive membrane bioreactor

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the performance characterization of the Extractive Membrane Bioreactor (EMB) when treating pharmaceutical industry process wastewater contaminated with Dichloromethane (DCM). EMB technology, which employs extraction and biodegradation in a single step, has proved a potential alternative for the treatment of harsh inorganic waste streams contaminated with organic compounds. It is particularly successful for the destruction of toxic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) such as DCM without incurring air‐stripping. A mixed culture was enriched to achieve complete biodegradation of DCM and total mineralization was confirmed by measurement of stoichiometric chloride release. The laboratory scale EMB was fed the process wastewater without any pre‐treatment or dilution and was operated for 16 days with removals >95%for the entire period of operation. The applicability of the EMB to treatment of a range of pharmaceutical industry wastewaters and its costs are discussed.