INFLUENCE OF FENTON OXIDATION AND BIODEGRADATION ON TOXICITY OF TANNERY INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS. THIRUMURTHY INBARAJ, P. VIJAYALAKSHMI AND G. MUTHURAMANAbstract The main objective of this study was to treat the common effluent treatment plant (Tannery effluent) and to evaluate the pollutant removal efficiency in terms of COD reduction by both Advanced Oxidation Process and Biological treatment using bacterial consortium. More efficient Fentonâs oxidation process was carried out as a pre-treatment and tried to reduce COD at different pH (2-10) with varying Fe2SO4 doses (100-300 mg/L) and H2O2 doses (400-800 mg/L). This pre-treated effluent sample was then biologically treated with monoculture and mixed culture of bacterial strains. The efficiency of mixed consortium achieves 82% of COD removal in 6% saline tannery effluent. Monod, Moser and Logistic models were used to fit the microbial growth in which the experimental data fits better in Logistic equations. Phytotoxicity studies show that the seeds of Vigna radiata grown on biologically treated effluent experience no adverse effects and evident 95% germination rate. Thus this treated effluent could also be utilized for agricultural irrigation purposes. |