Coupled solar photo-Fenton and biological treatment for the degradation of diuron and linuron herbicides at pilot scale

A coupled solar photo-Fenton (chemical) and biological treatment has been used to remove biorecalcitrant diuron (42 mg l-1) and linuron (75 mg l-1) herbicides from water at pilot plant scale. The chemical process has been carried out in a 82 l solar pilot plant made up by four compound parabolic collector units, and it was followed by a biological treatment performed in a 40 l sequencing batch reactor. Two Fe(II) doses (2 and 5 mg l-1) and sequential additions of H2O2 (20 mg l-1) have been used to chemically degrade the initially polluted effluent. Next, biodegradability at different oxidation states has been assessed by means of BOD/COD ratio. A reagent dose of Fe = 5 mg l-1 and H2O2 = 100 mg l-1 has been required to obtain a biodegradable effluent after 100 min of irradiation time. Finally, the organic content of the photo-treated solution has been completely assimilated by a biomass consortium in the sequencing batch reactor using a total suspended solids concentration of 0.2 g l-1 and a hydraulic retention time of 24 h. Comparison between the data obtained at pilot plant scale (specially the one corresponding to the chemical step) and previously published data from a similar system performing at laboratory scale, has been carried out. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.