Highest Chemical Oxygen Demand Removal Efficiency Research Articles

Treatment of pulp and paper mill effluent through combined aerobic and anaerobic suspended fixed-bed bioreactor.

This study explored using ultrafiltration (UF) membranes to treat pulp and paper mill wastewater, implementing a novel Taguchi experimental design to optimize operating conditions for pollutant removal and minimal membrane fouling. Researchers examined four factors: pH, temperature, transmembrane pressure, and volume reduction factor (VRF), each at three levels. Optimal conditions (pH10, 25°C, 6bar, VRF 3) led to a 35% reduction in flux due to fouling and high pollutant rejections: total hardness (83%), sulfate (97%), spectral absorption coefficient (SAC254) (95%), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (89%). Conductivity had a lower rejection rate of 50%. Advanced imaging techniques like atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed reduced membrane fouling under these conditions. The Taguchi method effectively identified optimal conditions, significantly improving wastewater treatment efficiency and promoting environmental sustainability in the pulp and paper industry. PRACTITIONER POINTS: This study optimized UF membrane conditions for pulp and paper mill wastewater, reducing fouling and enhancing pollutant removal, offering practical strategies for industrial treatment. AFM and SEM provided key insights into membrane fouling and mitigation, promoting real-time diagnosis and optimization for enhanced treatment efficiency. Prioritizing anaerobic fixed-bed systems in wastewater treatment is beneficial for achieving high COD removal efficiency. Optimizing hydraulic retention time (HRT) in these systems can further improve their overall effectiveness and sustainability.

Anaerobic digestion of spoiled milk from dairy industry for biogas production – optimization of operating parameters and kinetic modeling of the pilot scale study

BackgroundSpoiled milk from the dairy industry was subjected to anaerobic treatment to produce biogas at 37℃ in this experiment. Parameters such as inoculum dosage, pH, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and retention time were optimized in a laboratory-scale batch reactor for 90 days.MethodsThe anaerobic digestion of spoilt milk was carried out in a laboratory setting using a batch reactor. Then, using the recognized protocols of the APHA, the characteristics of the spoilt milk were assessed. In order to enhance the accuracy of predicting the reactor's performance, the research adopted two different models for kinetic analysis: the Stover-Kincannon model and the Grau second-order multi-component model. The reactor's improved performance, as indicated by evaluated kinetic parameters, was shown by the superior results from both of these models.ResultsThe results attained from the reactor’s performance were then used as a reference to improve biogas production in a 100 L Anaerobic Sequential Batch Reactor (ASBR) for 45 days. The ASBR achieved a high COD removal efficiency of 92.4% and produced a maximum of 70.4 L of biogas per liter of spoiled milk, equivalent to 69.6% methane content.ConclusionThe Stover-Kincannon model yielded kinetic parameters of Umax = 0.295 gCOD/L and KB = 12.87 gCOD/L, whereas the Grau second-order model presented kinetic coefficients a = 6.744 and b = 2.578. The results obtained from the two models suggest that the investigated kinetic coefficients could be improved upon to increase the reactor's capability for handling different substrates during the AD process.

Application of electro oxidation process for treating wastewater from petrochemical with mixed metal oxide electrode

Petrochemicals require a large volume of water for their operation, which results in the production of a large volume of wastewater. Treatment of petrochemical wastewater is an important process before discharging it into the environment. This research examines the treatment of real petrochemical wastewater using the electrochemical oxidation process. Direct anodic oxidation is an effective advanced electrochemical oxidation process (AEOP), with different electrodes using a parallel plate electrochemical reactor. Four types of real wastewater were received from different petrochemical units were treated by AEOP. Real wastewater samples with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations ranging from 20,450 to 52,300 mg/l. The main goal of this research is to make electrodes of Mixed Metal Oxide (MMO), which can reduce the treatment time and electricity consumption for oxidation, greater stability of the surface of the electrodes. Investigation of the rate constant kinetics shows that high COD removal efficiency can be achieved following the pseudo-second order reaction rate (R2 > 98%). When the wastewater pH is less than 5, COD removal efficiency is higher and the treatment process will be successful, which succeeded in removing 79% COD, but in alkaline wastewater, COD reduction efficiency was not satisfactory. The electricity consumption for 79% removal during 6 min was 117 kWh/m3. As a result, due to the very short time of the process (6 min), it can be used as one of the pre-treatment steps of petrochemical wastewater with acidic pH.

Neuro-fuzzy modelling of a continuous stirred tank bioreactor with ceramic membrane technology for treating petroleum refinery effluent: a case study from Assam, India.

A continuous stirred tank bioreactor (CSTB) with cell recycling combined with ceramic membrane technology and inoculated with Rhodococcus opacus PD630 was employed to treat petroleum refinery wastewater for simultaneous chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and lipid production from the retentate obtained during wastewater treatment. In the present study, the COD removal efficiency (CODRE) (%) and lipid concentration (g/L) were predicted using two artificial intelligence models, i.e., an artificial neural network (ANN) and a neuro-fuzzy neural network (NF-NN) with a network topology of 6-25-2 being the best for NF-NN. The results revealed the superiority of NF-NN over ANN in terms of determination coefficient (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Three learning algorithms were tested with NF-NN; among them, the Bayesian regularization backpropagation (BR-BP) outperformed others. The sensitivity analysis revealed that, if solid retention time and biomass concentrations were maintained between 35 and 75h and 3.0g/L and 3.5g/L, respectively, high CODRE (93%) and lipid concentration (2.8g/L) could be obtained consistently.

The dissolved methane recovery from treated sewage in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors: The energy demand, carbon footprint and financial cost

The goal of this research was to quantify the energy demand and carbon footprint over the life cycle, along with the financial cost, of sewage treatment with the recovery of dissolved methane (d-CH4). The sewage treatment is composed of pre-treatment, followed by treatment in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, trickling filter and secondary decanter, post-treatment with disinfection, and biogas recovery in the three-phase separator of the UASB reactor. The methods used in this study were attributional life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis – LCA and TEA, respectively. The energy demand, carbon footprint and financial cost for 1 m3 sewage treatment in the evaluated scenario without d-CH4 recovery (S1) were 3.4 MJ, 1.7 kg CO2eq and 0.17 USD respectively, while those with d-CH4 recovery (S2) varied by 12%, −16% and 2.3% compared to S1. The produced biogas for lower heating value in S2 (2.6 MJ) was 27% higher than that in S1 (2.0 MJ) and this varied from 1.3 MJ to 4.6 MJ in the scenarios for different influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the sewage treatment plant (STP) and COD removal efficiency in the UASB reactor. The highest eco-efficiency for 1 MJ heat production from the STP biogas was achieved in the scenario with d-CH4 recovery, higher influent COD, higher COD removal efficiency in the UASB reactor, d-CH4 saturation, photovoltaic electricity supply, and a higher energy efficiency in d-CH4 recovery combined (S2,COD+,R+,S,PV,EE+), which reduced the energy demand by 55%, carbon footprint by 66% and financial cost by 63% compared to S1. Furthermore, the STP functionality change from a single-product (biogas) to a multi-product (biogas, water for reuse and biosolid fertilizer) approach (S1,WR, BF and S2,WR,BF) made the biogas a competitive product compared to those from fossil sources. Therefore, resource recovery from the sewage treatment in higher influent COD, higher COD removal efficiency, the use of a more efficient, clean and economical electricity source and higher energy efficiency in d-CH4 recovery in a multi-product STP contribute to achieving the energy self-sufficiency over the life cycle while reducing the carbon footprint and financial cost of its products.

Simultaneous Organic Matter and Nitrogen Removal from Piggery Slaughterhouse Wastewater Using Bioaugmented Gaslift Membrane Bioreactor

AbstractA single bioaugmentation reactor and a side‐stream gaslift membrane bioreactor combined with bioaugmentation are conducted to treat real wastewater from a centralized piggery slaughterhouse in Vietnam. The bioaugmented reactor is inoculated with heterotrophic microorganisms (Bacillus sp.) isolated from piggery slaughterhouse wastewater. The results of a single bioaugmentation experiment show high removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (84.8%–97.5%) and total nitrogen (TN) (69.9%–87.2%) at loading rates of 1.28–3.89 and 0.14–0.37 kg m−3 d−1, respectively. The combined system demonstrates a significantly higher TN removal efficiency (89.0%–96.1%) (p < 0.001), more stable flux (36.0–38.4 L m−2 h−1), and transmembrane pressure (0.95–1.05 bar), and better capacity of separation of solid–liquid phases compared to the single bioaugmentation. High COD and TN removal efficiency is possibly due to assimilation and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification processes. The results of this study also indicate the feasibility and propitious efficiency of the bioaugmented gaslift membrane bioreactor for piggery slaughterhouse wastewater treatment.

Study on preparation of a novel needle coke heterogeneous electro-Fenton cathode for coking wastewater treatment

Coking wastewater is a major challenge in wastewater treatment because of its complex composition, high pollutant concentrations, and poor biodegradability. In this study, a novel electro-Fenton cathode was prepared from needle coke loaded with ferrous ions (Fe/NC/Ti) for use in a heterogeneous electro-Fenton system for coking wastewater treatment. The optimum preparation conditions of the electrode and the main factors affecting the treatment of coking wastewater were investigated. An effective method to reduce the energy consumption of the electro-Fenton system was sought by constructing variable current systems, and scale-up experiments were performed. When the catalyst-to-binder ratio was 3:1, Fe2+ loading was 2.5 %, and the calcination temperature was 400 °C, the Fe/NC/Ti cathode had the best catalytic effect. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate of the coking wastewater reached 97.7 %, and UV254 decreased from 0.163 to 0.037 under optimal conditions. The water was clarified and made transparent after the reaction. A series of characterizations confirmed that the Fe/NC/Ti cathode had good stability and electrochemical performance, and the electro-Fenton system constructed using the cathode degraded aromatic compounds in coking wastewater, such as phenols and cyclic macromolecular organic compounds, to small molecules and even caused full mineralization. The results of the scale-up experiment showed that the system had low energy consumption while maintaining high COD removal efficiency. Therefore, the Fe/NC/Ti cathode could be used as a potential solution to address the limitations of the traditional electro-Fenton process for coking wastewater degradation.

Mechanism and practical application of homogeneous–heterogeneous hybrid catalysts in electrolytic system for high COD chemical waste acid treatment

Treatment of organic contaminants in waste acid via electrochemical oxidation process has drawn sustained attention. Inspired by the electro-generation of persulfate from homogeneous sulfate (SO42-) in waste acid and the catalytic activity of heterogeneous tourmaline, this study aimed to investigate the feasibility of in-situ persulfate electro-generation and activation via utilizing homogeneous–heterogeneous hybrid catalysts system (SO42-/tourmaline) for organic contaminants removal in high chemical oxygen demand (COD) sulfate-containing waste acid. p-Aminodiphenylamine (RT-Base) was selected as a model organic contaminant to explore the mechanism of electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system. No RT-Base was detected after 60 min reaction in electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system. The formation of •OH and SO4•− in electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system made contributions to the RT-Base degradation. Degradation intermediates of RT-Base were identified and possible degradation pathway was proposed. Additionally, the application of electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system in treating the real RT-Base waste acid, which contained high COD and SO42-, was explored. Results showed that the COD removal rate was 67.94% under the optimal conditions, and the electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system could enhance the biodegradability of RT-Base waste acid. Furthermore, the electrolysis/SO42-/tourmaline system followed by the activated sludge process achieved a high COD removal efficiency (99.09%). Microbial DNA analysis suggested that Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla in the activated sludge; and metabolism was the predominant microbial function. In-situ electro-generation of persulfate/SO4•− for organics degradation achieved efficient utilization of waste sulfate. Electrochemical oxidation process with activated sludge process as a post-treatment showed great potential in the treatment of organics in high-sulfate waste acid.

Treatment of personal care product wastewater for reuse by integrated electrocoagulation and membrane filtration processes

In this scientific paper, the treatment performance of integrated electrocoagulation and membrane filtration process was investigated for the treatment of personal care product wastewater via responce surface methodology (RSM). The effect of electrode material (iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), stainless steel (SS), titanium (Ti), and graphite (Gr)), current density (50–150 A/m2), initial pH (4–10), and retention time (120–240 min) on chemical oxygen demand (COD), surfactant, oil-grease and microplastic removal was investigated. The SS cathode displayed the highest removal efficiency. RSM was employed to adjust the operating parameters: 50 A/m2 of current density, pH = 4, and 180 min of electrolysis reaction time, where the highest COD removal efficiency was 89.6%, surfactant elimination reached 99.4%, and oil-grease reduction was 99.3% acquired with the SS electrode pairs. The EC pretreated wastewater was passed through different membrane systems: ultrafiltration (UP150), nanofiltration (NF270 and NF90), and reverse osmosis (BW30 and SW30). The utilization of SW30 membrane has enhanced COD removal efficiency and reached 99.18% and each of surfactant, oil-grease, and microplastic removal efficiencies were enhanced as well. The ultimate outcomes displayed the significant ability of the studied combined processes to treat efficiently the tested wastewater and enhanced subsequently its final quality.

Synergistic effect of activated charcoal and chitosan on treatment of dairy wastewaters

This research investigated the feasibility of using hybrid system based on coagulation and adsorption for high-strength dairy wastewater treatment. Activated charcoal was used a non-toxic adsorbent and chitosan as a natural coagulant for the removal of odor, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (TP) from raw dairy effluents. The surface morphology of the adsorbent and coagulant were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Bench-scale jar test experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the integrated treatment system to treat real wastewater with different experimental conditions. Results of the study showed that about 68% and 74% COD was removed by using adsorption and coagulation method respectively. However, a high COD removal efficiency of 90% was achieved, when the coagulation process was coupled with the adsorption process. An in-depth analysis of contaminants present in the dairy effluents after treatment were studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The obtained results demonstrated that the organic compound like lipids, carbohydrates and proteins were drastically reduced which in turn lowered the COD level by employing the hybrid treatment system. The above outcomes suggested that combining naturally occurring sorbents and coagulants can greatly enhance the dairy wastewater pre-treatment performance in small scale treatment plants.

Optimizing treatment of alcohol vinasse using a combination of advanced oxidation with porous α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and coagulation-flocculation

This study utilizes a novel method, namely the combination of advanced oxidation processes with synthesized highly porous α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and coagulation-flocculation with polyacrylamide, to investigate the effects on COD removal in alcohol vinasse. Highly porous α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were prepared via a chemical precipitation technique. The characteristic of the synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were determined by FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, SEM, and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms. The effect of different α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles loading for chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was investigated. The results revealed that at α-Fe2O3 nanoparticle dose of 3000 ppm had the highest COD removal for vinasse. Then, central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the operating variables such as pH, time, oxidant dosage, and coagulant dosage, and their optimum values were determined to be pH:7.36, 90 min, 17.89 wt% oxidant dosage, and 1.6 wt% coagulant dosage, to achieve a high COD removal efficiency in 70 ℃ for alcohol vinasse (98.64%). Based on optimal conditions, the porous α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles possess superior catalytic activity in the advanced oxidation process compared to other treating methods. Also, the mechanism of the catalytic oxidation reaction is evaluated.

The effect of pre-treatment methods on membrane flux, COD, and total phenol removal efficiencies for membrane treatment of pistachio wastewater

In this study, the effect of pre-treatment methods was investigated for membrane treatment of pistachio processing wastewater (PPW). Chemical coagulation, electrocoagulation, and electrooxidation processes were tested as the pretreatment methods to understand the effect of pretreatment on membrane performance. Alum (Al2(SO4)3·18H2O), iron (III) chloride (FeCl3·6H2O) and iron(II) sulfate (Fe(SO4)·7H2O) were used as coagulant and anionic polyelectrolyte was used as flocculant. Al–Al and Fe–Fe electrode pairs were used in the electrocoagulation experiments while platinum (Pt), boron doped diamond (BDD), and graphite were used in the electrooxidation experiments. UP150, NF270, and NF90 were used as the membranes. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phenol removal efficiencies from wastewater were determined by considering membrane flux. For chemical coagulation experiments, the highest COD removal efficiency was determined as 44.9% for Al2(SO4)3.18H2O at 1000 mg/L when the wastewater pH value was 8.0. However, the highest total phenol removal efficiencies were obtined as 62.5% at 4000 mg/L for FeCl3.6H2O at pH 8. For electrocoagulation experiments, the highest COD and total phenol removal efficiencies were determined as 63.9% at pH 4.0 and 74.2% at pH 7.0, respectively, for 100 A/m2 current density when aluminum electrode pairs were used. For electrooxidation experiments, the highest COD and total phenol removal efficiencies were determined as 61.2% at pH 4.0 and 83.1% at pH 10, respectively, for 200 A/m2 current density when BDD-Pt electrode pairs were used. Raw PPW and pre-treated PPW with chemical coagulation, electrocoagulation, and electrooxidation processes were progressively further treated with ultrafiltration (UP150) and nanofiltration (NF270, NF90) membranes to improve COD and total phenol removal efficiencies. The results showed that the permeate of NF90 membrane supplied the highest COD (96.0%) and total phenol removal (97.5%) efficiencies for the raw wastewater. However, COD and total phenol removal efficiencies were determined as 98.6% and 100% for electrocoagulation + NF90, 97.9% and 100% for electrooxidation + NF90, 96.6% and 100% for chemical coagulation + NF90, respectively. The steady-state fluxes for NF90 membranes were 2.9, 7.0, and 8.6 L/m2h after chemical coagulation, electrooxidation, and electrocoagulation, respectively. The results depicted that electrocoagulation and electrooxidation were the most suitable pre-treatment methods for water recovery using NF90 membrane.

Evaluation of the efficiency of electrocoagulation process in removing cyanide, nitrate, turbidity, and chemical oxygen demand from landfill leachate

Background: Leachate contains toxic and non-biodegradable substances that are not easily treated by conventional treatment methods. This study investigated the effect of pH, current density, and reaction time parameters on the removal of cyanide (CN- ), nitrate (NO3- ), turbidity, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from leachate by electrocoagulation process. Methods: This study was an experimental one with direct current using four parallel bipolar aluminum electrodes with 90% purity. The length, width, and thickness of the electrodes were 5 cm, 10 cm, and 2 mm, respectively. There were 6 holes with a diameter of 0.7 cm on each of the electrodes. The samples were prepared from the old leachate of solid waste landfill in Ghaemshahr, Iran. Results: In this study, at a current density of 33 mA/cm2 and a time of 60 minutes, the optimum removal efficiency of cyanide (100 %) was obtained at pH 5.5 and pH 10. Moreover, the maximum removal of nitrate (99.65 %) and turbidity (86.41 %) were at pH 5.5 and pH 8.3, respectively and the highest removal efficiency of COD (83.14 %) was obtained at pH 10. Conclusion: The results showed that the removal of cyanide, nitrate, turbidity, and COD increases with increasing current density and reaction time. Due to the proper removal of nitrate and cyanide from leachate by electrocoagulation, nitrate and cyanide amounts were less than the allowable contamination level. Based on the results, electrocoagulation is considered an efficient and effective method for removing nitrate and cyanide from old leachate of municipal solid wastes.

Reverse osmosis concentrate treatment by microbubble ozonation-biological activated carbon process: Organics removal performance and environmental impact assessment

Reverse osmosis (RO) is being used in many water reclamation facilities to produce high quality water that can be reused for different purposes. As a part of the RO process, a reject stream is produced as the reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC), which contains elevated levels of contaminants compared to the source water. Effective treatment and safe disposal of ROC via cost-effective means is very challenging. This study aims to develop a robust microbubble ozonation–biological process for industrial ROC treatment with a target effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) lower than 60 mg/L. As compared to macrobubble ozonation, microbubble ozonation exhibited better ozone dissolution and 29% higher COD removal efficiency with the same ozone dosage. Under the optimum operating conditions with ozone dosage of 30 mg/L, ROC natural pH of 8.67 and ozonation duration of 1 h, microbubble ozonation achieved 42% COD removal efficiency while increasing the BOD5/COD ratio (ratio of biological oxygen demand over 5 days to the corresponding chemical oxygen demand) in ROC from 0.042 to 0.216. A biological activated carbon (BAC) column with an empty bed contact time (EBCT) of 120 min was combined with microbubble ozonation for continuous ROC treatment. Over the 100-day operation, the combined system performed consistent organics removal with an average effluent COD of 45 mg/L. Both LC-OCD data and fluorescence EEM spectra confirmed humic substances were the dominant organic species in ROC. Ozone pre-treatment could achieve significant removal of humic substances in raw ROC. ATP analysis found that ozone pre-treatment enhanced BAC biofilm activity by around 5 folds. 5 min acute toxicity assessment with Aliivibrio fischeri showed 4 times reduction of bioluminescence inhibition in ozone treated ROC. From the environmental point of view, Life cycle assessment (LCA) results demonstrated that Ozone-BAC system had significant environmental burdens on climate change and human toxicity due to the electricity production process. These environmental impacts can be mitigated by optimizing the ozonation process with reduced ozone dosage or utilizing renewable energy sources for electricity generation.

A critical review of state-of-the-art electrocoagulation technique applied to COD-rich industrial wastewaters.

Electrocoagulation (EC) is one of the emerging technologies in groundwater and wastewater treatment as it combines the benefits of coagulation, sedimentation, flotation, and electrochemical oxidation processes. Extensive research efforts implementing EC technology have been executed over the last decade to treat chemical oxygen demand (COD)-rich industrial wastewaters with the aim to protect freshwater streams (e.g., rivers, lakes) from pollution. A comprehensive review of the available recent literature utilizing EC to treat wastewater with high COD levels is presented. In addition, recommendations are provided for future studies to improve the EC technology and broaden its range of application. This review paper introduces some technologies which are often adopted for industrial wastewater treatment. Then, theEC process is compared with those techniques as a treatment for COD-rich wastewater. The EC process is considered as the most privileged technology by different research groups owing to its ability to deal with abundant volumes of wastewater. After, the application of EC as a single and combined treatment forCOD-rich wastewaters is thoroughly reviewed. Finally, this review attempts to highlight the potentials and limitations of EC. Related to the EC process in batch operation mode, the best operational conditions are found at 10 V and 60 min of voltage and reaction time, respectively. These last values guarantee high COD removal efficiencies of >90%. This review also concludes that considerably large operation costs of the EC process appears to be the serious drawback and renders it as an unfeasible approach for handling of COD rich wastewaters. In the end, this review has attempted to highlights thepotential and limitation of EC and suggests that vast notably research in the field of continuous flow EC system is essential to introduce this technology as a convincing wastewater technology.

Performance of Food Waste Feeding Pilot Plant Biodigester Operated with Identified Potential Substrate Properties

Anaerobic digestion has been proven as sustainable process technology for organic waste conversion into renewable bio-energy. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of mono-digestion process for different types of food waste substrates using pilot scale anaerobic bio-digester (1200 L) in terms of biogas production and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) test of rice waste (R), vegetable waste (VW) and coconut meat residue (CMR) were tested at initial volatile solid (VS) loading of 0.1631, 1.1690, 1.0059 g VS/L, respectively at fixed inoculum/substrate (I/S) ratio of 0.5. Further study conducted by using rice waste (R) in pilot plant anaerobic bio-digester (1200L) for 43 days to investigate the reactor performance in term of COD removal efficiency. Interestingly, inoculum used for this study performs very well and able to digest food waste. Results demonstrate that the maximum specific biogas yield (SBY) was observed from rice waste (R) at 0.0587 L/kg VS compared to other substrates. Specific biogas yield (SBY) of rice waste (R) was 16.01% and 11.92% higher than substrate vegetable waste (VW) and coconut meat residue (CMR) respectively. High COD removal efficiency of pilot plant bio-digester (up to 93 %) using rice waste (R) as sole substrate indicates a good performance of reactor in treating food waste. Conversion of food waste to biogas in pilot plant bio-digester is highly potential as one of the sustainable waste treatment technology.

Different methods applied to remove pollutants from real epoxy paint wastewater: modeling using the response surface method

ABSTRACT Comparing between classical and advanced methods for the treatment of industrial wastewater is extremely important to optimize factory operations and cost, and reduce the effects on environment. In the present study, some classical and advanced processes were assessed for chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, the biggest problem in the wastewater from a factory producing epoxy paints. The response surface methodology was used for optimization. While the chemical coagulation (CC) and classical Fenton (CF) processes were used as the traditional methods, the electrocoagulation (EC) and electro-Fenton (EF) processes were used as the advanced methods to treat wastewater. As a result, the highest COD removal efficiencies were obtained in EF (97.8%) and CF (88.6%), respectively. Low COD removal efficiencies (43.5% and 47.5% respectively) were achieved in coagulation-based processes (CC and EC). Operating cost for CF calculated as 2.15 €/m3. Considering in terms of treatment efficiency, sludge volume and operating cost, CF is the most suitable option for the management of epoxy paint wastewater (EPW). These results also show that Fenton-based methods provide higher removal yields for the treatment of EPW. In other words, it is stable wastewater and the presence of hydroxyl radicals is required for its successful management.

A Study on the Reaction Kinetics of Anaerobic Microbes Using Batch Anaerobic Sludge Technique for Beverage Industrial Wastewater

In this study, a low-cost, efficient, and environmentally friendly anaerobic sludge process for the treatment of industrial beverage wastewater was investigated to analyze the effect of bacteria growth on the degradation of organic matter (chemical oxygen demand). Additionally, the mechanism, interactions between the microbe’s growth, and operating conditions of an anaerobic batch reactor along with the wastewater treatment efficiency were evaluated via microbial kinetics. The kinetic coefficients based on chemical oxygen demand (COD) by conventional techniques such as kinetic coefficients growth yield (0.46 mg VSS/mg COD), saturation coefficient (3500 mg/L COD), the maximum rate of substrate utilization per unit mass of biomass (0.0066 mg/L COD), growth rate by Monod equation, M (0.03833 L/h), and maximum growth rate, μm (0.03672 L/h) were calculated. The results show a higher rate of substrate degradation (0.54 day−1) due to the high COD removal efficiency (CRE) of 99.31% during 13 days that was achieved, which can be attributed to the active involvement of anaerobic microbes in the process of degradation. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the current study can be used as an effective way to analyze the industrial beverage wastewater at commercial levels.

Hybrid Sono-Electrocoagulation Process for the Treatment of Landfill Leachate Wastewater: Optimization through a Central Composite Design Approach

The effectiveness of the process of ultrasonication (US), electrocoagulation (EC) and hybrid sono-electrocoagulation (US+EC) on landfill leachate wastewater treatment was evaluated based on the removal efficiency of % color and % Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) along with power consumption. The experimental results showed that the hybrid US+EC had a high color (100%) and COD (94%) removal efficiency with a lower power consumption of 4.50 kWh/m3 compared to the individual EC and US processes. In this hybrid US+EC process, the effects of various operating parameters were investigated and optimized using Design-Expert (12) based on the central composite design approach. The optimization results indicated a maximum COD removal efficiency of 71.05% with a minimum power consumption of 2.33 kWh/m3 at the following optimal experimental conditions: electrolyte concentration (X1) = 0.76 g/L, current density (X2) = 2.75 A/dm2, COD concentration (X3) = 3919.50 mg/L, sonication power (X4) = 100 W and treatment time (X5) = 36.05 min. The synergistic effect was calculated using the US, EC and US+EC process based on the % COD removal efficiency and has a positive effect of 20.51%. The % COD and % color removal efficiency were analyzed using a closed reflux method and UV-VIS spectrophotometer. Thus, the hybrid US+EC process, significantly enhances the efficiency of pollutants removal from landfill leachate wastewater.

Discerning realizable advantages of microbial electrochemical system towards raw municipal wastewater treatment: From the analyses of mass and energy flow

The low-cost biocathode microbial electrochemical system (MES) with microbial separator (MS) is promising for the practical application in wastewater treatment. To evaluate the potential realizable advantages for future full-size MESs, four 2-Liters MES modules with MS are constructed and their energy conversion, biomass metabolism and pollution degradation are systematically investigated. The mass and energy flow for MES with raw domestic wastewater is built under maximum power point (Pmax), maximum current point (Imax), and open circuit (OC) modes. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rates are 0.831 and 0.846 kg m−3 day−1 in Pmax and Imax modes, while that of OC is 0.609 kg m−3 day−1. The effluent COD concentrations at Pmax and Imax are stable at 41 ± 2 and 37 ± 2 mg L−1, while that of OC is up to 101 ± 4 mg L−1. The observed sludge yield is only 23.4% (Pmax) or 19.5% (Imax) of the OC mode with much higher sludge calorific values. For the raw wastewater treatment, the direct electricity harvest and reuse from MES units are unrealistic and uneconomical due to its low energy efficiency. But the high COD removal efficiency and low observed sludge yield are the realizable advantages for practical applicated MESs.