A new treatment system of Photocatalytic Hybrid Sequencing Batch Reactor (PHSBR) was developed in order to integrate the photocatalytic and sequencing batch reactor into a single system for simultaneous reaction. The photocatalytic process would partially oxidize the biological persistent compound to produce biodegradable intermediates. Simultaneously, the biological reactions by microorganisms were available during the photocatalytic process to assist the rapid degradation of the biodegradable intermediates as soon as they are produced. The phenol removal was initially evaluated through single photodegradation and biodegradation process. Phenol with concentration of 100 mg/L was removed by 72% after undergoing photocatalytic reaction. Moreover, the range of phenol removal efficiency through biodegradation at 100 mg/L was between 50–70 %. Phenol removal efficiencies were improved in PHSBR with different concentrations (25, 50 100 and 300 mg/L) evaluated. The total mineralization measured through COD removal could be achieved up to a phenol concentration of 50 mg/L. The average phenol removal efficiency increased up to 90% and above for all concentrations. The results demonstrate that simultaneous reaction allowed higher mineralization rates of phenol and the stability of biodegradation performances indicated the effectiveness of the simultaneous reaction.
