Terephthalic acid wastewater treatment by using two-stage aerobic process

Based on the tests between anoxic and aerobic process, the two-stage aerobic process with a biological selector was chosen to treat terephthalic acid wastewater (PTA). By adopting the two- stage aerobic process, the CODCr in PTA wastewater could be reduced from 4000-6000 mg/L to below 100 mg/L; the COD loading in the first aerobic tank could reach 7.0-8.0 kgCODCr/(m3.d) and that of the second stage was from 0.2 to 0.4 kgCODCr/(m3.d). Further researches on the kinetics of substrate degradation were carried out.