Use of metal adsorbing compounds (mac) to mitigate adverse effects of heavy metals in biological unit processes

The presence of heavy metals on an intermittent basis in the influent of biological unit processes can lead to process upset and poor removal of organics. Heavy metal breakthrough from a pretreatment process may be caused by a number of reasons. In this study, the feasibility of adding metal adsorbing compounds (MACs) into a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to mitigate the adverse effects of heavy metals breakthrough was investigated, A powdered activated carbon was found to be an effective MAC far heavy metals concentrations varying from 2 to 20mg/L. Organic removal efficiencies in a SBR usine MACs were similar to those of a control SBR with no metals in the influent.