| Title |
Improvement of the Biodegradability of Polyvinyl Alcohol by Radiation Treatment |
| Authors |
정진호 ( Jin Ho Jung ) ; 박남용 ( Nam Young Park ) ; 조훈제 ( Hun Je Jo ) ; 이선미 ( Sun Mi Lee ) ; 김정규 ( Jeong Gyu Kim ) |
| Keywords |
Biodegradability; Electron-beams; Gamma-rays; Polyvinyl alcohol |
| Abstract |
Radiation treatment with gamma-rays and electron-beams was used to remove polyvinyl alcohol(PVA), one of the main components of dyeing wastewater. PVA was effectively decomposed by radiation treatment, thus the removal was near 100% at an initial PVA concentration of 44 ㎎/L. However, total organic carbon(TOC) removal was less than 5% due to lower transformation of PVA to CO₂. This directly indicates the radiation treatment alone is not appropriate for the complete decomposition of PVA. In this sense, the improvement of biodegradability(BOD_5/COD) of PVA by radiation treatment was studied. Both gamma-ray and electron-beam treatments significantly increased the biodegradability of PVA by transforming non-biodegradable PVA to biodegradable by-products. This suggests radiation treatment, especially electron-beam treatment that showed better improvement of biodegradability, can be used as a pre-treatment of biological degradation process of PVA. |