ABSTRACT

Cosmetic wastewaters are characterized by relatively high values of chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids, fats, oils and detergents [1,2]. These effluents have been commonly treated by means of coagulation/flocculation [3,4]. Nevertheless, the more stringent regulations concerning industrial wastewaters makes necessary to implement new technologies. For this reason, the application of activated carbon adsorption [5], ultrafiltration [6] and advanced oxidation processes [7], including catalytic wet peroxide oxidation [8,9] has been reported in the last years.