Integration of membrane bioreactor and advanced oxidation processes for water recovery in leather industry

Abstract

Nowadays, the conventional tannery wastewater treatment is not established in order to obtain water in such a quality that it could be reused in the same process. This study was then carried out in order to study an integrated wastewater treatment system, membrane bioreactor–photoelectrooxidation (MBR–PEO), for the final polishing of tannery wastewater. MBR is responsible for the remaining biochemical oxygen demand removal, while the refractory matter, quantified as chemical oxygen demand, is removed by PEO. This treatment configuration has provided two wastewater streams with quality standards for reuse as process water. The wastewater treated by the MBR could be reused in beamhouse operations, while the wastewater treated by the integrated MBR–PEO processes could be recycled for the tanyard and re-tanning steps due to its appreciable quality.

Keywords:

• Tannery wastewater treatment
• Water reuse
• MBR
• Photoelectrooxidation

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the financial support received from the Brazilian agencies: CAPES, CNPq and FAPERGS.