Removal of Nitrate from Wastewater with Polymer-Enhanced Ultrafiltration (PEUF)

Abstract

Polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) is an advanced technology for the efficient separation of heavy metal ions and organic matter from outlet water. The removal of nitrate ions from wastewater via PEUF was investigated using polyethyleneimine(PEI) and cationic polyacrylamide(CPAM). When the concentration of NO3 - was 20 mg/L, the dosage of PEI/CPAM was 0.1 wt%, the best rejection were obtained, rejection of NO3 - were 92.8% and 80.2%, respectively, and rejection of PEI and CPAM were 92.3% and 83.3%, respectively. Effect of pH value on NO3 - rejection was obvious, rejection of NO3 - decreased sharply with the increase of pH value. However, there was no obvious changes on the PEI rejection. The PEUF process was considered to be more suitable for nitrate rejection using PEI as a polymer reagent.