Influence of Biofilm on Activated Carbon on the Adsorption and Biodegradation of Salicylic Acid in Wastewater

Combarros, R. G.; Rosas, I.; Lavín, A. G.; Rendueles, M.; Díaz, M.

Influence of Biofilm on Activated Carbon on the Adsorption and Biodegradation of Salicylic Acid in Wastewater

2014

Combarros, R. G. | Rosas, I. | Lavín, A. G. | Rendueles, M. | Díaz, M.

This paper presents a study of the combined process of adsorption and biodegradation in solid biologically activated carbon (AC) for the removal of salicylic acid aimed at determining the influence of the presence of biofilm on the process. Adsorption on AC and biodegradation of free cell cultures were studied separately so as to compare their performance with that of the combined biosorption system. The formation of bacterial biofilm on the surface of the carbon was investigated. The study was carried out using a range of synthetic solutions containing between 15 and 500 mg/L salicylic acid simulating an industrial effluent from the pharmaceutical industry. An individual bacterium, Pseudomonas putida (DSM 4478), was used to study the differentiated effects. Filtrasorb 400 and GAC 830 ACs were used in the adsorption processes and Filtrasorb 400 in the biofilm formation and combined biosorption processes. As regards, combined adsorption/biodegradation results indicated that the bioactivated carbon system outperformed the combination of conventional AC and biological water treatment processes when working with high pollutant concentrations.

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