New scrubber for air purification: abatement of particulate matter and treatment of the resulting wastewater

Abstract

The present paper deals with an innovative scrubber (air pollution abatement) used to remove particulate matter and other pollutants from air. Air pollution abatement scrubbers were placed in different urban areas and in industrial production sites. In particular, the results obtained in one fiberglass production facility showed a reduction in particulate matter of 46.3–99.9% in the size range 0.50–0.00 µm throughout the experimentation period. The aqueous solutions coming from the scrubbers, placed in different sites, were collected, analyzed and treated in order to regenerate the water and make it available for the periodic refilling of the scrubber’s tanks. Coagulation, precipitation, carbon adsorption and Fenton processes were applied in order to design a suitable integrated process able to treat all the samples coming from the scrubbers. The reduction in total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, phenols and chemical oxygen demand was higher than 85% by the Fenton process, demonstrating that water is completely recoverable and reusable. Alternatively, the treated water can be discharged into a surface water body. Based on the results from the experimental campaign, a mobile plant was designed in order to treat such wastewater. Depending on the physicochemical parameters of the wastewater, specific treatments can be chosen and carried out by such mobile plant.