Abstract
The performance of a vibratory shear-enhanced process (VSEP) combined with an appropriate membrane unit for the treatment of simulated or industrial tannery wastewaters was investigated. The fundamental operational and pollution parameters were evaluated, i.e., the membrane type, the applied vibration amplitude, as well as the removal rates (%) of tannins, chemical oxygen demand (COD), Ntotal, turbidity and color. Regarding the system’s treatment efficiency, specific emphasis was given towards the removal of organics (expressed as COD values), suspended solids (SS), conductivity (as an index of dissolved solids’ presence) and total nitrogen. The removal of organic matter in terms of COD exceeded 75% for all the examined cases. The quality of treated wastewater was affected not only by the membrane specific type (i.e., the respective pore diameters), but also by the applied vibration amplitude. Furthermore, an average 50% removal rate, regarding the aforementioned parameters, was observed both for the simulated and the industrial tannery wastewaters during the microfiltration (MF) experiments. That removal rate was further increased up to 85%, when ultrafiltration (UF) was applied, and up to 99% during the Reverse Osmosis (RO) experiments, considering the maximum applied vibration amplitude (31.75 mm).
Highlights
The leather tanning industry is a globalized industry and the European Union (EU) tanners are highly dependent on access to raw materials and export markets
The results showed that the final quality of the skin was not affected by the use of UF permeate for the unhearing process
This study proposed a two-step treatment unit, which involved MF followed by Reverse Osmosis (RO)
Summary
The leather tanning industry is a globalized industry and the European Union (EU) tanners are highly dependent on access to raw materials and export markets. The EU tanning industry is still the world’s largest leather supplier in the international market. This is despite the shrinkage of the EU share in the relevant world markets, due to the development of the leather industry in other regions of the world, such as Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Ethiopia [1]. Tanning is an important process for transforming rawhides into several leather goods, which are used daily by the consumers. For each end-product (e.g., shoes, jackets, bags, couches, chairs etc.), the relevant tanning process is rather specific and the kind and amount of the respectively produced wastes may vary significantly
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