74    AEROBIC BACTERIAL DEGRADATION OF COMPLEX
HIGH STRENGTH WASTEWATER FROM
CONDENSATION PROCESS POLYESTER
MANUFACTURE USING A FIXED FILM UPFLOW
BIOLOGICAL REACTOR WITH BIOAUGMENTATION
Stephen P. Bates, Manager
Environmental Engineering and Safety
Ruco Polymer Corporation
Hicksville, New York 11802
Yung-Tse Hung, Professor
Civil Engineering
Cleveland State University
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
INTRODUCTION
Ruco Polymer Corporation is a manufacturer of specialty saturated polyesters, polyester.polyols
and polyester powder coating resins. The wastewater generated by the Ruco Polymer Corporation
polyester manufacturing process is a reaction by-product. The wastewater is distilled from the reactor
in order to prevent the esters from reverting back to dicarboxylic acids and glycols. This is a crucial
step in the manufacture of the product. Approximately 5000 gallons of wastewater are generated from
daily operations. The research described here involves the treatment of wastewater in bench and pilot
plant scale operations using the Thames-Wastewater Treatment Systems (WTS) Upflow Biological
Reactor (UBR) system, Sunnyvale, California.
The objectives of the bench-scale tests are to determine microbe blends that would show good
growth in fixed film and suspended growth modes. Measurement of chemical oxygen demand reduction was studied. Another purpose of the bench scale experiment was to determine if any advantage
could be achieved by cultivating indigenous bacteria from contaminated soils in Sump 1, Figure 1. A
comparison between the indigenous and the commercial bacteria was made.
The purpose of the pilot plant study was to determine if the UBR system could be scaled up to
operate in a steady state mode. The goal was to be able to collect data for designing a full scale
treatment system.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The upflow biological reactor (UBR) combines a submerged packed bed reactor utilizing fixed film
growth along with an activated sludge system. Similar systems have been used for the removal of
various pollutants from wastewater.1"4 Some work has been performed on the treatment of toxic
industrial waste using this type of technology.5"7 Prior to this report, no other literature was found
describing this technology in the treatment of condensate polyester process wastewater.
The chemical compounds that make up the components of the polyester process distillate wastewater used in this study are monomers, oligomers and low molecular weight polymers as well as other
reaction by-products. Monomers used to manufacture polyesters are listed in Table I.8 Small quantities of these compounds and their reaction by-products are presumed to be in the wastestream due to
the nature of the condensation polymerization process. According to N.L. Nemerow,9 the significant
wastes associated with the production of alkyd and polyester resins are (1) unreacted volatile fractions
of raw materials, which either appear in the withdrawn water of esterification and in the water used in
scrubbers or are vented to the atmosphere, and (2) residue in kettles cleaned out with either caustic or
solvents. Flotation and land disposal are the only two methods of waste treatment known to be
utilized, other than discharge to a municipal sewer system. It is maintained that there is no adequate
treatment process for waste water from polyester production.
49th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1994 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.