Experimental Study on the Desalination of Waste Leachate Using the Combined Freezing Method

Abstract

The current high-salinity wastewater treatment technology is complex, costly, and carries the risk of secondary contamination. As a traditional desalination technology, the combined method using frozen technology has broad development prospects in wastewater treatment. This study investigates the desalination effects of waste leachate using three different methods: the frozen–gravity method (FGM), frozen–centrifugal method (FCM), and frozen–blowing methods (FBMs), under various experimental conditions. The results showed that the salt rejection of all three methods could reach more than 75% under the conditions of a freezing time of 12 h, freezing temperature of −15 °C, and ice production rate of 40%; the salt rejection of FGM increased at higher ambient temperatures, but it was not conducive to the removal of organic pollutants; the salt rejection of FCM was sensitive to the centrifugal time and centrifugal speed, with a significant correlation (p < 0.05), the increase in centrifugal time and centrifugal speed can help to improve the salt rejection, and the increase in centrifugal speed in the range of 1000–2000 rpm can accelerate the discharge of concentrated brine more effectively; the frozen–crushed–blowing method (FCBM) in FBM has a salt rejection as high as 93.86% at an ice production rate of 25.80%, which reduces the salinity of the effluent from 4.07% to 0.25%, speeds up the desalination process, and improves the salt rejection compared to the other methods. This study provides a new perspective and reference for the treatment of high-saline wastewater.