ABSTRACT
Treatment of wastewater from industries using or generating organic dyes has been of great concern due to the negative effects of such wastes on the environment. Seed inoculum was prepared by mixing fresh cow dung with two sets of sludge obtained from a secondary digester in a local wastewater treatment plant and from an anaerobic digester treating distillery wastewater in a local distillery. To investigate the efficiency of the integrated photocatalytic degradation and anaerobic degradation, the photoreactor and bioreactor units were connected in series and operated batch-wise. Photodegradation led to the degradation of the chromophoric bonds as well as mineralization of some of the organic molecules. The improved biodegradability index is an indication that photocatalysis degraded the methylene blue molecules into lesser toxic organic intermediates. Natural zeolite can alter the concentration of ammonia/ammonium, thereby eliminating the inhibitory effect of free ammonia as well as reducing toxic ammonium ions.
