Efficient Metal Recovery from Industrial Wastewater:Potential Oscillation and Turbulence Mode for Electrochemical System

Efficient metal recovery from industrial wastewater facilitates addressing of the environmental hazards and resource requirements of heavy metals.The conventional electrodeposition recovery method is hampered by the limitations of interfacial ion transport in charge-transfer reactions,creating challenges for simultaneous rapid and high-quality metal recovery.Therefore,we proposed integrating a transient electric field(TE)and swirling flow(SF)to synchronously enhance bulk mass transfer and promote interfacial ion transport.We investigated the effects of the operation mode,transient frequency,and flow rate on metal recovery,enabling determination of the optimal operating conditions for rapid and efficient sequential recovery of Cu in TE&SF mode.These conditions included low and high electric levels of 0 and 4 V,a 50%duty cycle,1 kHz frequency,and 400 L·h^(-1)flow rate.The kinetic coefficients of TE&SF electrodeposition were 3.5-4.3 and 1.37-1.97 times that of single TE and SF electrodeposition,respectively.Simulating the deposition process under TE and SF conditions confirmed the efficient concurrence of interfacial ion transport and charge transfer under TE and SF synergy,which achieved rapid and highquality metal recovery.Therefore,the combined deposition strategy is considered an effective technique for reducing metal pollution and promoting resource recycling.

Demulsification with simultaneous water purification by coupling filtration and enhanced oil droplet coalescence at anode interface in an electrochemical reactor

With the increasing demand of recycling disposal of industrial wastewater,oil-in-water(O/W)emulsion has been paid much attention in recent years owing to its high oil con-tent.However,due to the presence of surfactant and salt,the emulsion was usually stable with complex physicochemical interfacial properties leading to increased processing diffi-culty.Herein,a novel flow-through electrode-based demulsification reactor(FEDR)was well designed for the treatment of saline O/W emulsion.In contrast to 53.7%for electrical demul-sification only and 80.3%for filtration only,the COD removal efficiency increased to 92.8%under FEDR system.Moreover,the pore size of electrode and the applied voltage were two key factors that governed the FEDR demulsification performance.By observing the mor-phology of oil droplets deposited layer after different operation conditions and the behavior of oil droplets at the electrode surface under different voltage conditions,the mechanism was proposed that the oil droplets first accumulated on the surface of flow-through elec-trode by sieving effect,subsequently the gathered oil droplets could further coalesce with the promoting effect of the anode,leading to a high-performing demulsification.This study offers an attractive option of using flow-through electrode to accomplish the oil recovery with simultaneous water purification.

Comparing the adsorption behaviors of Cd, Cu and Pb from water onto Fe-Mn binary oxide, MnO2 and FeOOH

The adsorption potential of FMBO, FeOOH, MnO2 for the removal of Cd^2＋, Cu^2＋ and Pb^2＋ in aqueous systems was investigated in this study. Comparing to FMBO and FeOOH, MnO2 offered a much higher removal capacity towards the three metal ions. The maximal adsorption capacity of MnO2 for Cd^2＋, Cu^2＋ and Pb^2＋ were 1.23, 2.25 and 2.60 mmol· g^-1, respectively. And that for FMBO were 0.37, 1.13, and 1.18mmol·g^-1 and for FeOOH were 0.11, 0.86 and 0.48 mmol·g^-1, respectively. The adsorption behaviors of the three metal ions on the three adsorbents were all significantly affected by pH values and heavy metal removal efficiency increased with pH increased. The Langmuir and Freundlieh adsorption models were used to describe the adsorption equilibrium of the three metal ions onto the three adsorbents. Results showed that the adsorption equilibrium data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and this indicated that adsorption of metal ions occurred on the three metal oxides adsorbents limited to the formation of a monolayer. More negative charged of MnOa surface than that of FMBO and FeOOH could be ascribed by lower pHiep of MnO2 than that of FMBO and FeOOH and this could contribute to more binding sites on MnO2 surface than that of FMBO and FeOOH. The higher metal ions uptake by MnO2 than FMBO and FeOOH could be well explained by the surface charge mechanism.

The effects of hydrogen peroxide pre-oxidation on ultrafiltration membrane biofouling alleviation in drinking water treatment

Pre-oxidation is widely used to reduce ultrafiltration membrane fouling. However, the variation in the composition of microbial communities and extracellular polymeric substances （EPSs） accompanying pre-oxidation in drinking water treatment has received little attention. In this study, hydrogen peroxide （H2O2） was used in a coagulation- ultrafiltration process with Al2（SO4）3.18H2O. A long-term reactor experiment （60 d） showed that pre-oxidation alleviated membrane fouling, mainly due to its inhibition of microbial growth, as observed by flow cytometry measurements of the membrane tank water. Further analysis of the formed cake layer demonstrated that the corresponding levels of EPS released from the microbes were lower with than without H202 treatment. In comparison to polysaccharides, proteins dominated the EPS. 2D-electrophoresis showed little difference （p 〉 0.05, Student＇s t-test） in the composition of proteins in the cake layer between the treatments with and without H2O2. The molecular weights of proteins ranged from approximately 30-50 kDa and the majority of isoelectric points ranged from 6 to 8. Highthroughput sequencing showed that the predominant bacteria were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Verrucomicrobia in both cake layers. However, the relative abundance of Planctomycetes was higher in the cake layer with H2O2 pre-oxidation, which was likely probably due to the strong oxidative resistance of its cell wall. Overall, our findings clarify the fundamental molecular mechanism in H2O2 pre-oxidation for ultrafiltration membrane bio-fouling alleviation in drinking water treatment.

Comparison of the effects of aluminum and iron(Ⅲ)salts on ultrafiltration membrane biofouling in drinking water treatment

Coagulation plays an important role in alleviating membrane fouling, and a noticeable problem is the development of microorganisms after long-time operation, which gradually secrete extracellular polymeric substances（EPS）. To date, few studies have paid attention to the behavior of microorganisms in drinking water treatment with ultrafiltration（UF）membranes. Herein, the membrane biofouling was investigated with different aluminum and iron salts. We found that Al_2（SO_4）_3·18 H_2O performed better in reducing membrane fouling due to the slower growth rate of microorganisms. In comparison to Al_2（SO_4）_3·18H_2O,more EPS were induced with Fe_2（SO_4）_3·x18H_2O, both in the membrane tank and the sludge on the cake layer. We also found that bacteria were the major microorganisms, of which the concentration was much higher than those of fungi and archaea. Further analyses showed that Proteobacteria was dominant in bacterial communities, which caused severe membrane fouling by forming a biofilm, especially for Fe_2（SO_4）_3·x18H_2O. Additionally, the abundances of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia were relatively higher in the presence of Al_2（SO_4）_3·18 H_2O,resulting in less severe biofouling by effectively degrading the protein and polysaccharide in EPS. As a result, in terms of microorganism behaviors, Al-based salts should be given preference as coagulants during actual operations.

Effects of fluoride on the removal of cadmium and phosphate by aluminum coagulation

This study focuses on the effects of p H and fluoride at different molar ratios of fluoride to Al（R F：Al） on the removal of cadmium（Cd^（2＋）） and phosphate by Al coagulation. Fluoride at R F：Al≥ 3：1 inhibits the removal of Cd over wide Al dose ranges from 5 to 10 mg/L as Al. The removal of phosphate decreases significantly at high R F：Al of 10：1 whereas at lowered R F：Al（i.e., ≤ 6：1）, an adverse effect is observed only at insufficient Al doses below 2 mg/L. Fluoride shows inhibitive effects towards the removal of Cd at p H 7 and 8 and that of phosphate at p H 6. Fluoride decreases the ζ-potential in both systems, and the decreasing extent is positively correlated to the elevated R F：Al. The Al fluoride interactions include the formation of Al-F complexes and the adsorption of fluoride onto Al（OH）3 precipitates, i.e., the formation of Al（OH）n F m. Al-F complex formation inhibits Al hydrolysis and increases residual Al levels, and a more significant increase was observed at lower p H. Al-F complexes at high R F：Al complicate the coagulation behavior of Al towards both negative and positive ionic species. Moreover, fluoride at low R F：Al shows little effect on Al coagulation behavior towards Cd^2＋and phosphate, and the spent defluoridation adsorbent,i.e., aluminum（Al） hydro（oxide） with adsorbed fluoride at R F：Al of below 0.1：1, may be reclaimed as a coagulant after being dissolved.