Anaerobic Treatment of Polyethylene Glycol of Different Molecular Weights

ISSN： 0959-3330

Source： Environmental Technology, Vol.23, Iss.12, 2002-12, pp. : 1405-1414

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Abstract

Biodegradation of high molecular weight polyethylene glycol has been found difficult under aerobic conditions. The use of a chemical treatment prior to the aerobic one was necessary to remove high molecular weight of polyethylene glycol. Anaerobic treatment of polyethylene glycol may present an alternative to integrated chemical and biological treatment for the elimination of this compound. Anaerobic biodegradation of polyethylene glycol from 200 to 10000 molecular weight was studied. It showed that, unlike aerobic treatment, the size of the molecule up to 10000 does not affect the process efficiency. The critical retention time and the optimum retention time were estimated and ranged from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 19 days, respectively. Under these operational conditions percentage of removal ranged from 85 to 90%. Thus, anaerobic degradation of polyethylene glycol presents removal percentages and hydraulic retention times similar to those of biodegradable compounds tested at the same operational conditions.