E-beam irradiation and activated sludge system for treatment of mixed textiles and food base industrial waste water

The combination of irradiation and biological technique was chosen to study COD, BOD5 and colour removal from textiles effluent in the presence of food industry waste water. Two biological treatments, the first consisting a mix of non irradiated textile and food industry waste water and the second a mix of irradiated textiles waste water and food industry waste water were operated in parallel. Reduction percentage of COD in textiles waste water increased from 29.4 % after radiation to 62.4 % after further undergoing biological treatment. After irradiation, the BOD5 of textiles waste water was reduced by 22.1 % but reverted to the original value of 36 mg/ L after undergoing biological treatment. Colour had decreased from 899.5 ADMI to 379.3 ADMI after irradiation and continued to decrease to 109.3 ADMI after passing through biological treatment. (author)