ABSTRACT
The paper provides a critical comparison between
mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic
treatment of PTA wastewater through diagnosis
of a case study. Aspects covered are bioavailability,
biodegradability, microbial population,
thermodynamics, kinetics involved and bioreactor
design for PTA wastewater treatment.
The results of the case study suggests that onestage
thermophilic anaerobic reactor coupled
with coagulation-flocculation pre-treatment unit
and an aerobic post treatment unit could be
techno-economically viable for PTA wastewater
treatment to ensure that the final effluent quality
conforms to the international standard. The information
emanated from this study could be
useful and thought provoking to the professionals
and academia in the area of PTA wastewater
treatment and can serve as impetus toward
the development of research lines in similar
problems like the treatment of other petrochemical
wastewater such as phenol-containing
wastewater, benzene/benzoic acid-containing
wastewater or wastewater from other similar industrial
settings.
Keywords: Terephthalic