Method for stabilization of biological cultures to allow biological treatment of brines

A method comprising the steps of:

• passing a waste water stream including at least one ion-exchangeable pollutant through an ion-exchange resin able of exchanging the pollutant ion for a non-pollutant ion for a predetermined time or until the resin is no longer able to exchange the pollutant ion with the non-pollutant ion;
• stopping the waste water stream from passing through the resin;
• passing a brine solution comprising a monovalent alkali metal salt and having a monovalent alkali metal salt salinity greater than or equal to about 3% through the resin for a time sufficient to exchange all or substantially all of the pollutant ion with the non-pollutant ion to form a pollutant contaminated brine solution;
• adding an effective amount of a divalent cation to the pollutant contaminated brine solution to adjust a divalent to monovalent cation mole ratio to a numeric value greater than or equal to 0.05 to form a stabilized, pollutant contaminated brine solution capable of supporting a stable population of a pollutant degrading bacterial culture;
• contacting the stabilized, pollutant contaminated brine solution with an effective amount of the pollutant degrading bacterial culture under anaerobic/anoxic conditions for a time and at a temperature sufficient to degrade a concentration of the pollutant to or below a desired concentration to form a crude treated brine solution, while maintaining the divalent to monovalent cation mole ratio greater than or equal to about 0.05;
• and
• filtering the crude treated brine solution to remove the culture and to form a treated brine solution.

A method comprising the steps of:

• feeding a waste water stream including at least one ion-exchangeable pollutant with a first column including a first ion-exchange resin able of exchanging the pollutant ion for a non-pollutant ion for a predetermined time or until the resin is no longer to exchange the pollutant ion with the non-pollutant ion;
• switching the waste water stream feeding from the first column to a second column including a second ion-exchange resin capable of exchanging the pollutant ion for a non-pollutant ion for a predetermined time or until the resin is no longer to exchange the pollutant ion with the non-pollutant ion;
• passing a brine solution comprising a monovalent alkali metal salt and having a monovalent alkali metal salt salinity greater than or equal to about 3% through the first column for a time sufficient to exchange all or substantially all of the pollutant ion with the non-pollutant ion to form a pollutant contaminated brine solution and to regenerate the first resin;
• adding an effective amount of a divalent cation to the pollutant contaminated brine solution to adjust a divalent to monovalent cation mole ratio to a numeric value greater than or equal to 0.05 to form a stabilized, pollutant contaminated brine solution capable of supporting a stable population of a pollutant degrading bacterial culture;
• contacting the stabilized, pollutant contaminated brine solution with an effective amount of the pollutant degrading bacterial culture under anaerobic/anoxic conditions for a time and at a temperature sufficient to degrade a concentration of the pollutant to or below a desired concentration to form a crude treated brine solution, while maintaining the divalent to monovalent cation mole ratio greater than or equal to about 0.05;
• filtering the crude treated brine solution to remove the culture and to form a treated brine solution;
• switching the waste water stream feeding from the second column to first column;
• and
• repeating the above-identified steps.