Abstract: The wastewater discharged from tanneries lack biodegradability due
to the presence of recalcitrant compounds at significant concentration. The
focal theme of the present investigation was to use chemo-autotrophic activated
carbon oxidation (CAACO) reactor, an immobilized cell reactor using
chemoautotrophs for the treatment of tannery wastewater. The treatment scheme
comprised of anaerobic treatment, sand filtration, and CAACO reactor, which
remove COD, BOD, TOC, VFA and sulphides respectively by 86%, 95%, 81%, 71% and
100%. Rice bran mesoporous activated carbon prepared indigenously and was used
for immobilization of chemoautotrophs. The degradation of xenobiotic compounds
by CAACO was confirmed through HPLC and FT-IR techniques.
