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The study investigated the pretreatment of real paracetamol (PCT) wastewater of a pharmaceutical industry by Fenton process. At the best experimental conditions (COD/H2O2 = 1/1, Fe+2/H2O2 = 1/70, settling method:centrifuging, pH 6 at settling step), 92.7, 92.7, 95.5, 99.1, 99.9 and 99.4% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), 5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), PCT, para-amino phenol (PAP) and aniline were removed, respectively. Changes in the concentrations of these parameters were also investigated for both oxidation and settling steps of Fenton process. It was found that COD and TOC were removed at the settling step (precipitation) whereas PCT, PAP and aniline were removed at the oxidation step. Mass balance calculations were also studied to show the mass distributions of COD in different phases (gas + foam, effluent and sludge). Fenton process was found as an effective method for the pretreatment of real PCT wastewater for discharging in a determined collective treatment plant.

The operation conditions for the implementation of the Fenton process are of utmost importance because there are problems related to the proportion of H2O2 dosage to COD and Fe2+ dosage to the specified H2O2 amount. The relevant lite-rature shows that COD/H2O2 ratios range between 0.0084 and 113.9. Similarly, the COD/Fe2+ ratio varies between 0.079 and 292.6, while the H2O2/Fe2+ ratio varies between 0.09 and 287. Moreover, the ratio of the maximum value to the minimum value used in the operations on the basis of COD is 13560 for COD/ /H2O2 (0.0084-113.9), 2210 for COD/Fe2+ (0.079-174.7), and finally 3190 for H2O2/Fe2+ (0,09-287). The aim of this study was to re-evaluate these values that significantly differ from each other with specific emphasis on textile wastewater and considering stoichiometric ratios. Results showed that values ranging between 0.43 and 4.0 for COD/H2O2 and those ranging between 0.75 and 3.0 for H2O2/Fe2+ are more suitable. The results showed that in a Fenton process con-ducted by dosing H2O2 at different times, the TOC reduction efficiencies inc-reased from 80.8 up to 88.9%. Similarly, the color reduction efficiency also rose from 96.5 to 98.7%. This article has been corrected. Link to the correction 10.2298/CICEQ170425016E

A high pH, low solubility of bound plant nutrients, and negative impacts on microbial communities are common drawbacks of biomass ash (BA) vermicomposting. In this study, nutrient-rich BA mixed with cow manure was tested at three different application rates to obtain final nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents of 3.5%, 7.0%, and 10.0% for bio-based fertilizers via vermicomposting. The results showed that all BA blends made with cow manure increased fermentation temperatures and allowed successful worm activity during the subsequent vermicomposting phase. The order of indicator enzyme activities in all vermicomposting samples was urease (220 μg NH4 g−1 h−1) > β-glucosidase (95 μg PNP g−1 h−1) > alkaline phosphatase (91 μg PNP g−1 h−1) > arylsulfatase (83 μg PNP g−1 h−1) > acid phosphatase (60 μg PNP g−1 h−1). As an indicator of nutrient bioavailability, high correlations were observed between enzyme activities and microbial diversity in vermicompost samples. Determination coefficients (R2) obtained from multiple linear regressions between enzyme activities and bacterial population for T0, T1, T2, and T3 were determined as 0.90, 0.65, 0.73, and 0.90, respectively. According to a novel metagenome-based approach proposed within the scope of the present study, the stimulatory effects of Flavobacteriales, Burkholderiales, Saccharimonadales, and Pseudomonadales on enzyme activities for the nutrient solubility were found to be significant and positive. The findings of this study demonstrated that worm composting could be a sustainable bio-based technology for the production of slow-release fertilizer from nutrient-rich waste material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]