International Journal of Photoenergy 
Volume 7 (2005), Issue 4, Pages 169-174
doi:10.1155/S1110662X05000255

Effects of pilot-plant photochemical pre-treatment (UV/H2O2) on the biodegradability of aqueous linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS)

Mehrab Mehrvar,1 Gelareh Bankian Tabrizi,1 and Nabil Abdel-Jabbar2

 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto M5B 2K3, Ontario, Canada
2Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan

Abstract

The effects of the photochemical pre-treatment by using a pilot-plant UV/H2O2 process on the biodegradability of aqueous linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) were studied. It was observed that the photochemical pre-treatment of the LAS solutions by UV-254/H2O2 increased the biodegradability of LAS solutions. Aqueous solutions with higher concentrations of LAS (> 100 mg/L) were non-biodegradable. The ratio of BOD5/COD of the pre-treated LAS solutions was increased, indicating that the pre-treated LAS solutions were more biodegradable. This ratio was improved as the LAS solutions were more pre-treated. Also, the biodegradability factor for the pre-treated LAS solutions was increased as the time of the photochemical pre-treatment was increased.