Economical treatment of reverse osmosis reject of textile industry effluent by electrodialysis–evaporation integrated process

Membrane separation methods such as electrodialysis (ED) can reduce the volume load on evaporators by facilitating further concentration of rejects from reverse osmosis (RO) plants. ED studies were carried out on a bench-scale system using five membrane cell pairs to obtain a textile effluent concentrate containing approximately 6 times the quantity of salts present in the RO reject. The limiting current densities were determined to be in the range 2.15–3.35 amp/m² for feed flow rates varying from 18 to 108 L/h. Apart from feed rate, the influence of volume of concentrate and current on membrane performance was evaluated to optimize current utilization. An estimation of energy requirement of an integrated process constituting ED and evaporation for concentration of inorganics present in textile effluent from 4.35% to 24% was made and found to be approximately one eighth of the operating cost incurred by evaporation alone. Detailed design of a commercial ED system revealed that a membrane area of 13.1 m² was required to treat a feed rate of 1500 L/h. The payback period to recover capital investment was found to be 110 days.     

Cr(VI) removal by continuous electrodeionization: Study of its basic technologies

The capabilities of continuous electrodeionization process (CEDI) and its basic technologies (electrodialysis (ED) and ion exchange (IX)) were analyzed in order to remove hexavalent chromium from synthetic solutions at pH 5. A cell with two chambers (dilute and concentrate) was used. Two cation exchange membranes (CM-1) and one anion exchange membrane (AFN) (40 cm² effective area) were employed in the experimental setup. IX technology was single evaluated using an IRA-67 anionic resin to know its independent performance from the other technologies, whereas ED was studied in the cell; I_lim determination was done by I vs. U plots and factors of 0.7 I_lim and 0.85 I_lim were applied to ED process. Finally, EDI process was studied at the same conditions that ED in order to know the resin bed role. During IX the removal reached was 50%; ED 98% after 6.25 h operation with an energy consumption of 1.21 kW h/m³; EDI (anionic bed) accomplishing 97.55% chromium removal (energy consumption of 0.91 kW h/m³). Finally EDI with mixed bed removed 99.8% in 1.3 h and of 0.167 kW h/m³ of energy consumption.     

Removal of total dissolved solids, nitrates and ammonium ions from drinking water using charge-barrier capacitive deionisation

A charge-barrier capacitive deionisation system was tested for electrochemical removal of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), nitrates and ammonium ions. Several experiments were conducted with inorganic species spiked in tap water. The system efficiency was first evaluated using experimental statistical designs with different concentrations of NaCl (150 to 3000 mg/L). The raw water conductivity and the targeted residual TDS in treated water were the key process variables. Power consumption increased linearly as the difference between these two values increased. Water recovery rate and electrical consumption, which varied respectively from 63.9% to 95.8% and from 0.45 to 5.35 kWh/m³, were adequately described by a simple linear regression model (R²: 0.98 and 0.99, respectively). Additional experiments performed on nitrates (100 mg N-NO₃/L) and ammonium ions (1000 mg N-NH₄/L) showed high levels of removal. A rise in TDS concentration led to a decrease in their removal due to the competition for electrodes carbon adsorption sites. It was concluded from this study that this technology offers an innovative alternative for demineralising water. However, assays should be conducted in natural waters and in a steady-state manner to confirm data obtained and get long-term performance.     

Pilot studies on high recovery BWRO-EDR for near zero liquid discharge approach

A hybrid process combining reverse osmosis and electrodialysis has been shown to be effective in recovering 97-98% of brackish water as product water with chloride levels of 200 mg/L or less. Potential for scaling on the brine side of the electrodialysis unit was prevented by acidification, operating the electrodialysis in a reversal mode (EDR), and a side loop crystallizer which prevented buildup of scaling components. Settlers, inline microfiltration, and side-loop ultrafiltration kept suspended solids from returning to the EDR unit. This process was demonstrated in a series of more than eighty batch experiments of 1.5 to 1.8 m³ of RO concentrate of raw brackish groundwater from the Negev Highland, Israel. Each batch could be processed within a single day. The feed-water was concentrated from 0.3% to over 10% TDS super-concentrate while producing the water that could be recycled to the RO permeate. This super-concentrate from the EDR unit was further concentrated in a wind powered WAIV unit that brought final brine TDS to > 30%, and showed promise as a method to recover mineral byproducts such as magnesium salt. Initial economic estimates show that this hybrid process is competitive with conventional RO and other enhanced recovery processes for inland desalination requiring use of evaporation ponds.     

Feasibility studies of discontinuous electro-regeneration processes in environmentally-friendly plating for chromate separation from a binary system

Project work was carried out for feasibility and possible design of semi-industrial electro-regeneration units for diluted waters typical for rinse water systems in electroplating industry. Firstly, one subject of interest was the removal of CrO₄²⁻ ions in the concentration range between 0.06 mol m⁻³ and 2.3 mol m⁻³. Ion exchange capacity of several resins under room temperature conditions was tested. A 2-compartment cell with diaphragm was found to be a suitable construction for electrochemical resin regeneration after previous discontinuous loading. The determination of resin conductivities and transport numbers was also part of the studies. Results showed sufficient high current efficiencies up to 70%. Nevertheless, low ion mobility in the resin may limit the removal rate for continuous electrodeionization. In this case, stepwise operation mode in loading and regenerating the resin bed is the only solution. Energy consumption can be lowered by using catholytes of previous electro-regeneration steps. Specific energy consumption until 0.3 kWh per treated cubic meter is to be expected.     

Economical evaluation of the fluoride removal by nanofiltration

Economic evaluation was carried out for a plant of fluoride removal by nanofiltration having a capacity of 2400 m³/d (100 m³/h) corresponding to a water consumption for 50.000 capita following the Moroccan considerations in rural medium. The design of this plant was carried out for the predetermined optimized conditions corresponding to a recovery rate of 84%, a fluoride rejection of 97.8% and a pressure pump of 10 bar. The capital cost was estimated to 748,003 € and the calculated operating cost to 0.212 €/m³. These costs were briefly compared to other ones.     

Economic evaluation of fluoride removal by electrodialysis

An economic study was conducted to evaluate the costs of fluoride removal by electrodialysis on the basis of industrial and economic data. The investment and operating costs were estimated for an industrial plant with a capacity of 2200 m³/d water consumption for 50,000 per capita according to Moroccan standards for rural areas. The capital cost was estimated to be € 833,207 and the calculated operating cost to be € 0.154/m³.     

Treatment of olive mill wastewater by the combination of ultrafiltration and bipolar electrochemical reactor processes

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the removal of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from olive mill wastewater (OMW) by the combination of ultrafiltration with electrocoagulation process. Ultrafiltration process equipped with CERAVER membrane was used as pre-treatment for electrochemical process. The obtained permeate from the ultrafiltration process allowed COD removal efficiency of about 96% from OMW. Obtained permeate with an average COD of about 1.1 g dm⁻³ was treated by electrochemical reactor equipped with a reactor with bipolar iron plate electrodes. The effect of the experimental parameters such as current density, pH, surface electrode/reactor volume ratio and NaCl concentration on COD removal was assessed. The results showed that the optimum COD removal rate was obtained at a current density of 93.3 A m⁻² and pH ranging from 4.5 to 6.5. At the optimum operational parameters for the experiments, electrocoagulation process could reduce COD from 1.1 g dm⁻³ to 78 mg dm⁻³, allowing direct discharge of the treated OMW as that meets the Algerian wastewater discharge standards (<125 mg dm⁻³).     

New froth behaviour observations and comparison of experimental sieve tray entrainment data with existing correlations

A thorough understanding of the hydrodynamics in tray columns is required to optimise column and tray design for specific operating capacities and conditions. Liquid transported by the rising gas to the tray above, defined as entrainment, is one way of measuring the tray column capacity limit. Entrainment correlations available in the literature have been developed with predominantly air/water data, because of the limited availability of non-air/water data. In this work an experimental setup was constructed to measure entrainment, tray pressure drop and weeping for various gas and liquid systems. The experimental entrainment data for three systems, namely air/water, air/ethylene glycol and air/silicone oil, is compared to existing correlations. The effect of liquid physical properties on entrainment under flow factors ranging from 1.6 kg^0.5/(m^0.5 s), for a 415 mm tray spacing to 4.0 kg^0.5/(m^0.5 s) for a 615 mm tray spacing within a liquid flow range of 2.9–112 m³/(h m) was observed. The experimental results showed a somewhat complex dependency of entrainment on liquid physical properties. At gas flow factors of 2.2 kg^0.5/(m^0.5 s) for the 415 mm tray spacing, entrainment reached a maximum in the froth regime and then decreased with increasing liquid rates. Notably, the liquid viscosity – not included in previously developed correlations – significantly influences the entrainment behaviour. Existing entrainment correlations agree better with the air/water data than with the air/ethylene glycol or air/silicone oil data.     

Selective separation of contaminants from paper mill effluent using nanofiltration

Biologically treated newsprint mill effluent containing 57 mg L⁻¹ DOC and 1430 TDS was used in a screening study of nine commercial NF membranes for use as pretreatment for reverse osmosis in an end of pipe water recycling application. A salt-organic-separation (SOS) efficiency factor was developed to help rank the performance of the membranes. The SOS measures the ratio of the sum of the percentage rejection of organics and divalent cations over the percentage rejection of monvalents. It can be used to discriminate between NF membranes that are not too permeable to divalent cations or organics in which case the NF permeate will have a high chlorine demand due to the carryover of organics, or too retentive in which case all the material in the effluent will be retained and fouling problems are likely to occur. The optimum SOS efficiently for this study appeared to range from 3.5 to 5.6 for six membranes, DK, HPA-150, ESNA1-LF2, DL, TFC-SR2 and NF-270, which were categorised as membranes with an intermediate rejection. Out of these membranes ESNA1-LF2, TFC-SR2 and NF-270 were capable of operating up to 90% recovery with high permeabilities ranging from 17.7 to 22.3 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹.     

Novel pre-treatment method for seawater reverse osmosis: Fibre media filtration

A high rate fibre filter was used as a pre-treatment to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) to reduce membrane fouling. Seawater was drawn from Chowder Bay where the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Australia is located. A lab-scale fibre filter with a height of 1000 mm and a diameter of 30 mm was used in conjunction with in-line coagulation. The effect of operating the fibre filter with different packing densities (105, 115 kg/m³) and filtration velocities (40, 60 m/h) was investigated in terms of silt density index (SDI₁₀), modified fouling index (MFI), pressure drop (ΔP), turbidity and molecular weight distribution (MWD). The use of in-line coagulation improved the performance of fibre filter as measured by the MFI and SDI. Regardless of filtration velocity and packing density the MFI and SDI₁₀ values remained low as did the turbidity until the end of the filtration run. The MWD analysis showed the removal efficiencies of organic materials like biopolymers, fulvic acids, low MW acids for even experiments with the highest filtration velocity (60 m/h) and lowest packing density (105 kg/m³). This pre-treatment has a small foot print as it has the capacity of operating at a very high filtration velocity.     

Pervaporation dehydration of ethylene glycol by NaA zeolite membranes

Home-made NaA zeolite membranes were used for pervaporation dehydration of ethylene glycol (EG)/water mixtures. Hydrothermal stability of the membranes in pervaporation was investigated for industrial application purpose. The membranes exhibited good stability for water content of less than 20 wt.% at 100 °C. The reduction of operating temperature was effective to improve membrane stability for operating at high feed water content (e.g. 30 wt.%). The influence of feed water content and operating temperature on dehydration of EG was extensively investigated. A permeation flux of 4.03 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with separation factor of >5000 was achieved at 120 °C for the separation of the solution with 20 wt.% water content. A pilot-scale pervaporation facility with membrane area of 3 m² was built up for dehydration of EG with the water content of 20 wt.%, which showed technical feasibility for industrial application.     

Study of phenol removal using fluidized-bed Fenton process

In this paper, the removal of phenol from simulated wastewater was studied using gas–liquid fluidized bed with the Fenton reagent. The factors that affect the removal rate of phenol were investigated, including the initial concentrations of hydrogen peroxide [H₂O₂] and [Fe²⁺], the molar ratio of [Fe²⁺]/[H₂O₂], pH value, temperatures, reaction time, and the ventilation volume. It was found that the optimal operating conditions existed as: [H₂O₂] = 12 mmol/L, [H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] = 4:1, pH = 4, T = 60 °C, reaction time of 30 min, and a ventilation volume of 0.12 m³/h. Under these conditions, the phenol removal rate of about 96% was obtained.     

Separation of glycerol from FAME using ceramic membranes

International standards (e.g., ASTM D6751 and EN14214) limit the presence of free glycerol in biodiesel. The traditional water wash method for removing glycerol from crude fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) obtained in the production of biodiesel results in waste waters that cannot be readily discharged. To circumvent the water wash purification method, a membrane separation system using ceramic membranes was designed, constructed and tested for the removal of glycerol from crude FAME from a biodiesel production process. Ceramic membranes in the ultrafiltration (0.05 μm) and microfiltration (0.2 μm) ranges were tested at three different operating temperatures: 0, 5 and 25 °C. All runs separated glycerol from the crude FAME. International standards for glycerol content in biodiesel were met after 3 h when utilizing the ultrafiltration membrane setup at 25 °C with a concentration factor greater than 1.6.     

Kinetic model of solute aqueous extraction from Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) treated by pulsed electric field, electrical discharges and ultrasonic irradiations

This work investigates the aqueous extraction from Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) assisted by pulsed electric field (PEF), electrical discharges (ED) and ultrasound irradiations (UI). It aims the improvement of the solutes yield and the extraction kinetics at room temperature.Fennel gratings of size (1.5 × 0.75 × 30-50 mm³; width × height × length), were treated by PEF (intensity: 50-1200 V/cm and number of pulses: 50-1000), ED (voltage: 40 kV and number of discharges: 10-60) and ultrasound (intensity: 400 W/cm² and treatment duration: 10-350 min). The liquid-to-solid (weight/weight) ratio equal to 2. All tests were carried out at room temperature (20 °C), under stirring at 250 rpm. The extraction kinetics was modelled using a simplified two-exponential kinetic model, which corresponds to mass transfer in two stages (rapid washing and slow diffusion).The optimal parameters of PEF, ED and UI, giving the maximal juice yield, were determined and the effect of these three treatments on the mass transfer rate was studied.     

Optimization of baker's yeast drying in industrial continuous fluidized bed dryer

Instant active dry baker's yeast is a well-known product widely used for leavening of bread, produced by fermentation, and usually dried by hot air to 94-96% dry matter content. Multi-stage fluidized bed drying process is a commercial effective method for yeast drying. In this work, optimum operating parameters of an industrial continuous fluidized bed dryer for the production of instant active dry yeast were investigated. The dryer contained four zones separated with moving weirs. The operating conditions such as temperature, loading rate of compressed yeast granules, and hot air humidity had direct effects on both yeast activity and viability. The most important factors that affected the quality of the product were loading rate and the operational temperature in each zone on the bed. Optimization was performed for three loading rates of the feed to the dryer, using response surface methodology for the experimental design. The most significant factor was shown to be the loading rate with mean fermentation activity values of 620, 652, and 646 cm³ CO₂/h for 300, 350, and 400 kg/h loading rates, respectively. The data analysis resulted in an optimal operating point at a loading rate of 350 kg/h and temperatures of zones 1, 2, 3, and 4 controlled at 33, 31, 31, and 29 °C, respectively. The best activity value was predicted as 668 ± 18 cm³ CO₂/h, and confirmation experiments resulted in 660 ± 10 cm³ CO₂/h. At the same operating point, the average viability of the cells was predicted as 74.8 ± 3.7% and confirmed as 76.4 ± 0.6%. Compared with the normal operating conditions at the plant, the optimization resulted in more than 12% and 27% improvement in the yeast activity and viability, respectively.     

Improved antifouling of anion-exchange membrane by polydopamine coating in electrodialysis process

The fouling, in particular the organic fouling of anion exchange membranes (AEMs), is a serious problem in electrodialysis (ED). In this paper, we attempted to improve the antifouling potential of AEM by surface modification with polydopamine (PDA). The antifouling potential was evaluated by the transition time, i.e. the time elapsed before fouling took place, using sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) as a model foulant. The negative surface charge density, hydrophilicity and roughness of the membrane surface were increased with increasing dopamine concentration in the modification solution. The increases in negative surface charge density and hydrophilicity increased the antifouling potential, while the increase in surface roughness decreased the antifouling potential. Consequently, the optimum modification condition was the immersion into a 0.1 kg/m³ dopamine aqueous solution at pH 8.8 for 24 h. Under this condition, the antifouling potential of AEM was sufficiently improved. It was shown by theoretical analysis of the fouling data that the surface modification with PDA prevented the adsorption of SDBS micelles and improved the antifouling potential. Furthermore, it was experimentally confirmed that the modified membrane was highly stable.     

Evaluation of treatment and recovery of leachate by bipolar membrane electrodialysis process

Recovery studies are frequently carried out for electrodialysis (ED) processes. In this study, beyond examining the recovery of leachate components in an electrodialysis process, the use of that process to treat leachate-containing wastewater was simultaneously tested. Leachates were initially pre-treated (ultra filtration + cation exchange) to prevent clogging and harmful effect to the bipolar electrodialysis membranes. Optimum operating conditions were determined at the end of the experimental studies. Online observations during the electrodialysis process included the temperature-dependent reaction time, conductivity and changes of molar concentrations of H⁺ and OH⁻ ions in both the anolyte and catholyte compartments in which removed ions were collected. The most important contaminants in leachates are organic substances and nitrogen compounds. For this reason, representations of organic substances, such as the chemical oxygen demand (COD), and nitrogenous compounds, such as total Kheldahl nitrogen (TKN) and ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), were also monitored in the electrodialysis effluent. Under the optimum operating conditions, removal of NH₃-N, TKN and COD were determined in the effluent at 96.2%, 92.8% and 86.7%, respectively. The conductivity value was determined to be 1.97 mS/cm at the end of the study.     

Acid treatment of south Tunisian palygorskite: Removal of Cd(II) from aqueous and phosphoric acid solutions

The object of this work is to study the modifications of Tunisian palygorskite upon HCl treatment and to investigate the ability of natural and acid treated palygorskite to adsorb heavy metal ions. Chemical analysis, X ray diffraction, infrared spectra, MAS-NMR methods, BET surface and surface charge of HCl treated palygorskite have been reported. It was established that acid leaching at reflux temperature resulted in an increase in the amount of Mg, Fe and Al extracted and in surface area from 59.7 to 437 m² g^− 1 for 2 M HCl samples and from 59.7 to 360 m² g^− 1 for 4 M HCl samples, due to a dissolution of the octahedral sheet and the creation of mesoporosity. ²⁹Si-MAS-NMR studies yield information on changes occurring in the structure of the mineral. During acid treatment the clay structure is progressively transformed into amorphous silica (essentially for samples treated by HCl 4 M for 10 h and HCl 2 M for 35 h).Natural palygorskite and the activated samples were applied as adsorbents for the removal of Cd(II) from aqueous solutions. The effects of various experimental parameters were investigated. The adsorption isotherms of activated palygorskites for Cd(II) could be described by the Freundlich model. The acid activated sample showed a higher adsorption capacity for Cd(II) than the natural palygorskite. The retention of Cd(II) ions by palygorskite occurs dominantly by specific adsorption. A different behaviour was observed in the phosphoric acid medium. Despite increases in the surface areas upon acid activation, improvements in the adsorption were not observed, as a result of the decreasing number of negative surface sites, as main centers for specific adsorption.     

Electrowinning of copper in two- and three-compartment reactive electrodialysis cells

Two- and three-compartment copper electrowinning (EW) cells based on reactive electrodialysis (RED) have been studied. The catholyte was cupric sulphate and the anolyte was ferrous sulphate, both dissolved in sulphuric acid. Copper mesh cathodes and graphite bar anodes have been used. The effects of cell current density, temperature, electrolyte recirculation flowrate and nitrogen sparging flowrate on cell performance (cathodic current efficiency, cell voltage and specific energy consumption (SEC)) have been determined. The cell voltage increased with cell current and it decreased with temperature and nitrogen sparging flowrate. The effect of nitrogen sparging flowrate on the cell voltage is stronger than the effect of electrolyte recirculation flowrate, whereas its enhancing effect on mass transfer is stronger than its deleterious effect on electrolyte conductivity. The SEC ranged from 0.94 to 1.39 kW h/kg at cell current densities between 200 and 600 A/m². These values are considerably better than those for conventional copper EW (about 2 kW h/kg at 350 A/m²). The morphology of the electrodeposits has been observed and a comparison between a three-compartment cell and a previously studied squirrel-cage cell (both based on RED) has been drawn.