Development of an internal two-stage upflow anaerobic reactor integrating biostimulation strategies to enhance the degradation of aromatic compounds in wastewater from purified terephthalic acid and dimethyl terephthalate manufacturing processes

Kyohei Kuroda; Maho Takai; Takeo Sekiguchi; Tomoya Ikarashi; Hazuki Kurashita; Meri Nakajima; Masaru K Nobu; Masashi Hatamoto; Takashi Yamaguchi; Yuki Nakaya; Hisashi Satoh; Masahito Yamauchi; Masayoshi Yamada; Takashi Narihiro

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121762

Development of an internal two-stage upflow anaerobic reactor integrating biostimulation strategies to enhance the degradation of aromatic compounds in wastewater from purified terephthalic acid and dimethyl terephthalate manufacturing processes

Water Res. 2024 May 10:258:121762. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121762. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8517 Japan; Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. Electronic address: k.kuroda@aist.go.jp.
² Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8517 Japan; Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
³ Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8517 Japan; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan.
⁴ Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8517 Japan; Department of Science of Technology Innovation, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan.
⁵ Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central 6, Higashi 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan; Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.
⁶ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan; Department of Science of Technology Innovation, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan.
⁸ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
⁹ Department of Urban Environmental Design and Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kagoshima College, 1460-1 Shinkou, Hayato, Kirishima, Kagoshima 899-5193, Japan.
¹⁰ Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-17-2-1 Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 062-8517 Japan; Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. Electronic address: t.narihiro@aist.go.jp.

PMID: 38754297
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121762

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to establish high-rate biological treatment of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) wastewater that minimizes the inhibitory effects of high concentration benzoate and acetate. To achieve this, we developed a novel bioreactor system and biostimulation strategy. An internal two-stage upflow anaerobic (ITUA) reactor was operated with (i) a packed bed containing green tuff medium underlying (ii) a compartment seeded with anaerobic granular sludge. Ethylene glycol was amended to stimulate syntrophic interactions. Continuous operation of the system for 1,026 days achieve an organic removal rate of 11.0 ± 0.6 kg COD/m³/d. The abundance of aromatic degraders significantly increased during operation. Thus, we successfully developed a high-rate treatment system to treat wastewater from the PTA/DMT manufacturing processes by activating syntrophs in an ITUA reactor.

Keywords: Dimethyl terephthalate wastewater; Ethylene glycol; Green tuff; Internal two-stage upflow anaerobic (ITUA) reactor; Purified terephthalic acid wastewater; Syntrophy.