Removal of ibuprofen, ketoprofen, COD and nitrogen compounds from pharmaceutical wastewater using aerobic suspension-sequencing batch reactor (ASSBR)

[Display omitted] •Treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater was performed using ASSBR system.•Various loading of contamination levels (ibuprofen and ketoprofen) were investigated.•Effective removing microbes were characterised and identified.•By increasing ibuprofen and ketoprofen loadings, the removal increased up to 90%.•Three effective removing microbes were found resistance to ibuprofen and ketoprofen. This study was performed to remove emerging contaminants ibuprofen (IBU) and ketoprofen (KETO), COD and nitrogen compounds from pharmaceutical wastewater. The ASSBR was operated under a constant aeration rate at 1.0L/min, 24h HRT and various loadings of IBU (1.71–5.1mg/m3day), KETO (0.39–2.1mg/m3day), COD (1.2–10kg/m3day) and ammonia (NH3–N: 4.3–6.3g/m3day). The results showed that IBU, KETO, COD, NH3–N and nitrate (NO3–N) were efficiently removed in the range of 63–90%, 13–92%, 88.7–89.3%, 77.2–96%, 35.7–92.5%, respectively. Isolation and screening of effective microbes found three isolates identified as Bacillus pseudomycoides, Rhodococcus ruber and Vibrio mediterranei, which had a higher toxicity resistance towards IBU and KETO. Thus, the pharmaceutical wastewater especially IBU and KETO could be biologically removed with the presents of valuable effective microbes in the ASSBR system.