@article {Kumfer:2007:1938-6478:296,
	author = "Kumfer, Bryan and Lehmann, Dick",
	title = "Wet Air Oxidation of Difficult to Treat Pharmaceutical Waste Streams",
	journal = "Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation",
	volume = "2007",
	number = "6",
	year = "2007",
	abstract = "Wet air oxidation (WAO) is a technology that can be used to treat wastewaters from the pharmaceutical industry. A test program was carried out to determine the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewaters that had a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and were poorly biodegradable. The testing included batch style bench scale testing, continuous flow pilot testing, and a biological treatment study of the WAO treated effluent. Several mixtures of up to 12 different wastewater streams were tested. Testing indicated that a COD reduction of the mixed wastewater of up to 71% can be achieved in the continuous flow system operating at 290 °C with a 90 minute time at temperature. COD reduction varied with different types of wastewaters. The effluents from the wet air oxidation system were generally biodegradable and could be further treated using a conventional biological treatment system. After bench scale biological treatment, the treated wastewater had a COD and BOD concentration of less than 500 mg/L and 50 mg/L, respectively.",
	pages = "296-308",
	url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wefproc/2007/00002007/00000006/art00025",
	doi = "doi:10.2175/193864707786542454",
	keyword = "Wet Air Oxidation, Oxidation, Pharmaceutical, Wastewater, Biodegradability"
}