Biological Degradation of Some Organic Compounds Enrolled in Paper Industry

Evaluation of the elimination and the ‘ultimate’ biodegradation by aerobic microorganisms of some organic compounds applied in paper manufacturing technology was investigated. Biodegradation lines of nine organic compounds as percentage removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) were detected over a seven day incubation. The results of the biodegradability test clearly revealed that some of the organic compounds under investigation are highly biodegradable, while others rank from fairly to even non-biodegradable. Significant biodegradation results were recorded as COD removal, for Anti-coating ester (95.0%), Basoplast 200D (85.3%) and Basoplast PR 8050(87.6%). Bleaching agent (Formamidin-sulfinic acid), Ukanol BSA and Solidurit KM demonstrate moderate biodegradation results of 62.1%, 76.2% and 69.8%, respectively. Poor biodegradation results for Hedifix M/35 (12.7%), Basazol Orange (34.9%) and Basazol Brown (29.0%) were recorded. Accordingly, appropriate caution should be taken into consideration when applying these compounds.