Abstract

Lab-scale Electrodialysis(ED) system with different membranes combined with before or after pyroma process were carried out to remove nitrate from two pickling acid wastewater containing high concentrations of <TEX>$NO_3\;^-$</TEX>(<TEX>${\approx}$</TEX>150,000 mg/L) and F(<TEX>$({\approx}$</TEX> 160,000 mg/L) and some heavy metals(Fe, Ti, and Cr). The ED system before Pyroma process(Sample A) was not successful in <TEX>$NO_3\;^-$</TEX> removal due to cation membrane fouling by the heavy metals, whereas, in the ED system after Pyroma process(Sample B), about 98% of nitrate was removed because of relatively low <TEX>$NO_3\;^-$</TEX> concentration (about 30,000 mg/L) and no heavy metals. Mono-selective membranes(CIMS/ACS) in ED system have no selectivity for nitrate compared to divalent-selective membranes(CMX/AMX). The operation time for nitrate removal time decreased with increasing the applied voltage from 10V to 15V with no difference in the nitrate removal rate between both voltages. Nitrate adsorption of a strong-base anion exchange resin of <TEX>$Cl\;^-$</TEX> type was also conducted. The Freundlich model(<TEX>$R^2$</TEX> > 0.996) was fitted better than Langmuir mode(<TEX>$R^2$</TEX> > 0.984) to the adsorption data. The maximum adsorption capacity (<TEX>$Q^0$</TEX>) was 492 mg/g for Sample A and 111 mg/g for Sample B due to the difference in initial nitrate concentrations between the two wastewater samples. In the regeneration of ion exchange resins, the nitrate removal rate in the pickling acid wastewater decreased as the adsorption step was repeated because certain amount of adsorbed <TEX>$NO_3\;^-$</TEX> remained in the resins in spite of several desorption steps for regeneration. In conclusion, the optimum system configuration to treat pickling acid wastewater from stainless-steel industry is the multi-processes of the Pyroma-Electrodialysis-Ion exchange.

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