Emulsified oily wastewater treatment using a hybrid-modified resin and activated carbon system

Abstract

The treatment of emulsified oily wastewater containing n-octane (used as simulated wastewater) was investigated by various packing materials and a hybrid system of modified resin and activated carbon. Cetyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide-modified polystyrene resin (R-CTAB) was synthesized and its oil removal performance was compared with granular-activated carbon (GAC) and polypropylene granular (pp). The effect of operation conditions was studied and attentions should be paid on volumetric flow and influent oil concentration because they are two crucial factors for oily wastewater treatment performance. The results indicated that R-CTAB has the most stable oil removal performance in various operation conditions due to hydrogen bond formation between hydrocarbon molecules and the free hydrophilic part of the fixed surfactant. The application of hybrid system of R-CTAB + GAC can remove most of the oil from the oily wastewater, which resulted in higher than 90% reduction of oil content in the treated effluent.