Experimental Study of Effluent Salty Wastewater Treatment from a Solar Desalination Pond

In this research, the quality of the wastewater discharged into the environment has been investigated. The effluent from solar desalination pond contains large amounts of TDS (3.68 grams per liter) and TH (6.50 grams per liter). Since the use of filter is not economical in this case, three types of commercial coagulants such as aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride and ferric sulfide have been used in this study. The main parameters such as effectiveness of three inorganic coagulants, ammonium sulfate, ferric sulfate, and ferric chloride, which separately help to remove hardness, have been studied. According to the results, using laboratory test, 25/g of ferric sulfate as coagulant is best coagulant mass and the ratio of 4 to 3 for auxiliary coagulant (sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide) to coagulant will be best ratio. Also, the mixing rate of 120 rpm in the first reactor will give the best mixing speed. These conditions will lead to 0.348 grams per liter of TDS, 0.345 grams per liter of TH and 0.195 grams per liter of calcium hardness and 300 micro Siemens electrical conductivity of the purified sample.

Removal of total cyanide in coking wastewater during a coagulation process: Significance of organic polymers

Whether a cationic organic polymer can remove more total cyanide （TCN） than a non-ionic organic polymer during the same flocculation system has not been reported previously. In this study, the effects of organic polymers with different charge density on the removal mechanisms of TCN in coking wastewater are investigated by polyferric sulfate （PFS） with a cationic organic polymer （PFS-C） or a non-ionic polymer （PFS-N）. The coagulation experiments results show that residual concentrations of TCN （Fe（CN）6^3-） after PFS-C flocculation （TCN 〈 0.2 mg/L） are much lower than that after PFS-N precipitation. This can be attributed to the different TCN removal mechanisms of the individual organic polymers. To investigate the roles of organic polymers, physical and structural characteristics of the floes are analyzed by FT-IR, XPS, TEM and XRD. Owing to the presence of N＋ in PFS-C, Fe（CN）3- and negative flocs （Fe（CN）63- adsorbed on ferric hydroxides） can be removed via charge neutralization and electrostatic patch flocculation by the cationic organic polymer. However, non-ionic N in PFS-N barely reacts with cyanides through sweeping or bridging, which indicates that the non-ionic polymer has little influence on TCN removal.

Efficient Degradation 4-Nitrophenol by Photocatalysis from Modified TiO_2 Doped Copper

In the present study,a film consisting of TiO_2 doped with copper was prepared for efficiently decomposing 4-nitrophenol(4-NP) by photocatalysis.The preparing process of TiO_2 doped with copper includes two procedures:preparing Ti(OH)_4 doped with copper and synthesizing anatase and rutile TiO_2 doped with copper.Ti(OH)_4 doped with copper could be achieved by hydrolyzing TiCl_4in the mixed solution containing deionized water and copper oxalate.The Ti(OH)_4 doped with copper can be gained successfully by the following procedures:rinsing,drying and vacuum drying.The Ti(OH)_4 doped with copper could be converted into anatase TiO_2 doped with copper and rutile TiO_2 doped with copper by incineration for 4.5 h at 723 and 1 073 K,respectively.Characterizations of anatase TiO_2 doped with copper and rutile TiO_2 doped with copper were determined by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and energy dispersion of X-ray(EDX).Anatase and rutile TiO_2 doped with copper were dissolved in a mixed solution containing isopropanol and diethylamine.Stainless electrode was submerged into with the solutions,the film of TiO_2 was formed by drying the thin layer at a ramp rate of 3℃/min until 373 K,and this temperature was held for 1 h.The temperature of the oven was subsequently increased to a final temperature of 823 K at a ramp rate of 3℃/min,and was held at this value for 1 h.The stainless steel covered with modified TiO_2 film was utilized as the anode.The stainless steel mesh was used as the cathode.The cathode and anode were connected with the source and immersed into the solution with 100 mg/L 4-NP.The whole reaction on photocatalysis was perfectly carried out after ultraviolet radiation and aerator were run.The experimental results showed that:cracking ratio of 4-NP ring,the removal ratio of chemical oxygen demand(COD) and total organic carbon(TOC) were respectively more than 90%,80% and 80% within 2 h.Degradation of 4-NP implied its potential application in associated wastewater.

Effects of Aeration Rates and Patterns on Shortcut Nitrification and Denitrification

The effects of aeration rates and aeration patterns on the oxidation of ammonia-nitrogen into nitrite were investigated. The influent high ammonia-nitrogen synthetic wastewater resembled to those of the catalytic process of the petrochemical refinery. The method involved the biological shortcut nitrification and denitrification lab-scale’s sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process based on intermittent aerations and aeration patterns. All the operations were carried out in a 20 L working volume SBR bioreactor, and the influent synthetic wastewater’s concentration was always 1000 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen NH4-N concentration at a C/N (carbon/nitrogen) ratio of 2.5:1. Effective shortcut nitrification to nitrite was registered at 1.1 mg-O2/L (i.e. 9 L-air/min) with 99.1% nitrification efficiency, 99.0% nitritation rate and 2.6 mg-NO3--N/L nitrate concentration. The best results with 99.3% nitrification efficiency were recorded when operating at 1.4 mg-O2/L (i.e. 12 L-air/min). According to these experiments, it results that the nitrite accumulation rate was related to aeration rate and cycle’s duration. However, at 1.7 mg-O2/L (i.e. 15 L-air/min), the system was limited by an increase in nitrate concentration with more than 5 mg/L which could be a point of reverse to conventional nitrification. The best total nitrogen (TN) removal was about 71.5%.

Enhancing nitrogen removal from low carbon to nitrogen ratio wastewater by using a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor

Removing nitrogen from wastewater with low chemical oxygen demand/total nitrogen （COD/TN） ratio is a difficult task due to the insufficient carbon source available for denitrification. Therefore, in the present work, a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor （NSBBR） was developed to enhance the nitrogen removal from wastewater with low COD/ TN ratio. The NSBBR was divided into two units separated by a vertical clapboard. Alternate feeding and aeration was performed in the two units, which created an anoxie unit with rich substrate content and an aeration unit deficient in substrate simultaneously. Therefore, the utilization of the influent carbon source for denitrification was increased, leading to higher TN removal compared to conventional SBBR （CSBBR） operation. The results show that the CSBBR removed up to 76.8%, 44.5% and 10.4% of TN, respectively, at three tested COD/TN ratios （9.0, 4.8 and 2.5）. In contrast, the TN removal of the NSBBR could reach 81.9%, 60.5% and 26.6%, respectively, at the corresponding COD/TN ratios. Therefore, better TN removal performance could be achieved in the NSBBR, especially at low CODfrN ratios （4.8 and 2.5）. Furthermore, it is easy to upgrade a CSBBR into an NSBBR in practice.