Biodegradability of terephthalic acid in terylene artificial silk printing and dyeing wastewater

As the characteristic pollutant, terephthalic acid (TA) was in charge of 40%-78% of the total COD of terylene artificial silk printing and dyeing wastewater (TPW-water). The studies on biodegradability of TA were conducted in a serial of activated sludge reactors with TPW-water. TA appeared to be readily biodegradable with removal efficiency over 96.5% under aerobic conditions, hardly biodegradable with removal efficiency below 10% under anoxic conditions and slowly biodegradable with a turnover between 31.4% and 56.0% under anaerobic conditions. TA also accounted for the majority of BOD in TPW-water. The process combined by anoxic, anaerobic and aerobic activated sludge reactor was suitable for TA degradation and TPW-water treatment, Further, the aerobic process was essentially much more effective than the anaerobic or anoxic one to degrade TA in TPW-water.