Influences of organic loading disturbances on the performance of anaerobic filter process to treat purified terephthalic acid wastewater.

A lab-scale anaerobic filter process was operated for the treatment of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) wastewater, and the influences of organic loading disturbances on the process performance were investigated. After about 15 month operation, the COD removal efficiency was maintained at 79% under the volumetric loading rate of 5.05 kg-COD/m3/d and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 h.