Pilot-scale integrated membrane system for the treatment of acrylonitrile wastewater

Abstract

The production of acrylonitrile exceeds 5milliontons every year throughout the world, which leads to the huge emission of acrylonitrile wastewater. Hence, treating the acrylonitrile wastewater remains challenging. In this study, a pilot scale integrated membrane system (IMS) consisting of ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) was proposed to treat the highly concentrated acrylonitrile wastewater from petrochemical plants. A preliminary techno-economic study for a 24m3/day wastewater treatment pilot plant was conducted. The system runs smoothly in 1600h operation. In treating acrylonitrile wastewater with COD 22,000–30,000mg/L, NH3-N 14–40mg/L, CN− 20–55mg/L, the effluent water quality of IMS was COD<3000mg/L, NH3-N<10mg/L, CN−<5mg/L. The results show that the developed IMS is effective for the treatment of acrylonitrile wastewater and industrialization of IMS is prospective.