Kinetics of Ethylene Glycol Biodegradation in a Sequencing Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor

Treatment of waste water containing ethylene glycol (EG) by implementing a sequence of two Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBR) were studied. Reactors were operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 48, 24, 18, and10 hours while EG concentration was in the range of 10 mg/l to 1,150 mg/l. Throughout the experiments the ratio of EG Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) to total COD was changed from 0.0 to1.0. The maximum removal efficiency of EG was achieved at HRT of 18 hours during the tests and COD removal efficiency varied from 71.7% to 96.7%.