Biotransformation of nonylphenol ethoxylates （NPEOs） during continuous anaerobic sewage treatment was compared with the aerobic treatment of sewage spiked with 23 μmol/L technical NPEOs over a period of 90 d. Immediate degradation of NPEOs was observed under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, indicating that the enzymes and bacteria required for NPEO degradation existed abundantly in both aerobic and anaerobic sludge. Both treatments achieved high removal （〉 92%） of the spiked NPEO9 mixture. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry （LC-MS） analysis showed that short-chain NPEOs （NPEO1-NPEO3） accumulated in anaerobic （2.01-2.56 μmol/L） and aerobic （1.62-2.03 μmol/L） effluents, with nonylphenol （NP） （0.24-0.31 μmol/L） as another group of metabolites in the anaerobic effluent, and nonylphenoxy carboxylates （NPECs） （2.79-3.30 μmol/L） in the aerobic effluent. Significant accumulation of NP in the anaerobic sludge and NPEO1-3 in the sludge of two reactors was observed. These results indicated that it was difficult to control these harmful metabolites in the conventional treatment processes. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles of sludge samples support the speculation that the NPEO degradation bacteria might be the dominant indigenous species.
High strength refractory organic stream is produced during the production of 2-phenylamino-3-methyl-6-di-n-butylaminofluoran （One Dye Black 2, abbr. ODB 2）, a novel heat-sensitive material with a promising market. In this study, a combination of acidificationprecipitation, primary biological treatment, Fenton＇s oxidation and another biological treatment was successfully used for the removal of COD from 18000-25000 mg/L to below 200 mg/L from the ODB 2 production wastewater in a pilot experiment. A COD removal of 70%-80% was achieved by acidification-precipitation under a pH of 2.5-3.0. The first step biodegradafion permitted an average COD removal of 70% under an hydraulic residence time （HRT） of 30 h. By batch tests, the optimum conditions of Fenton＇s oxidation were acquired as： Fe^2＋ dose 6.0 mmol/L; H2O2 dose 3000 mg/L; and reaction time 6 h. The second step biological treatment could ensure an effluent COD below 200 mg/L under an HRT of 10 h following the Fenton＇s treatment.
The effects of ozonation on the formation potential of typical disinfection byproducts （DBPs） and the changes of genotoxicity during post chlorination of tertiary effluent from a sewage treatment plant were investigated. Ozonation enhanced the yields of all detected chlorine DBPs except CHCI3. At a chlorine dose of 5 mg/L, the three brominated THMs and five HAAs increased, while chloroform decreased with the increase of ozone dose from 0 to 10 mg/L （ozone dose in consumption base）. At a chlorine dose of 10 mg/L, the two mixed bromochloro species THMs and two dominant HAAs （DCAA and TCAA） increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of ozone dose, with the turning point approximately occurring at an ozone dose of 5 mg/L. The genotoxicity detected using umu test, on the other hand, was removed from 7 Ixg 4-NQO/L to a negligible level by ozonation under an ozone dose of 5 mg/L. Chlorination could further remove the genotoxicity to some extent. It was found that SUVA （UV absorbance divided by DOC concentration） might be used as an indicative parameter for monitoring the removal of genotoxicity during the oxidation.
