Chemical Industry Wastewater Treatment Using Adsorption a K a Rathi*
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 61, January 2002, pp 53-60 Chemical Industry Wastewater Treatment Using Adsorption A K A Rathi* Technical Adviser (Chemi cal), Government of Gujarat, Industries Commissionerate, Udyog Bhavan, Gandhinagar 382017 and SA Puranik VVP Engineering Coll ege, Rajkot 360 005 Received: 3 1 July 200 I; accepted: 02 November 200 I In a typical wastewater treatment fl ow sheet used by several industri al units in Indi a. various stages of treatment include primary treatment. foll owed by second ary treatment . and terti ary treatment. The concentrati on of total dissolved solids increases during neutrali zation of the wastewater with acid/ alkali during primary treatment. which adversely affects the activity of microorgani sms during biological treatment. The present stud y aims at demonstrating that adsorption as th e Iirst stage of treatment shall increase efficiency of the subsequent bi ological treatment. Experiments were carried out on different wastewater sampl es from chemi cal pl ants on adsorbent s viz. ac ti vated carbon. bent onite. and li gnit e. The effecti veness of adsorbents in th e removal of refractory orga nics by way of reducin g chemical oxygen demand and colour is evaluated. The results of COD red uction are fitt ed into different models ava il ab le in literature including the new model Rat"i Puranik eq uation . which requires least experiment ati on for predicting COD va lues. 2 Introduction were reviewed . The use of activated carbon in water and wastewater treatment, including the increasin gly A wide range of adsorbents (granulated as we ll important role of adsorption" for removal of specific as finely powdered) including activated carbon, clays, target compounds or classes of compounds from bentonite, tly as h, alumina, magnes ium ox id e, ferric . water and wastewater containing complex organi c oxide, silica, saw du st, zeo li tes , and activated substance mi xtures has also been reviewed. The anthrac ite vo lcanic ash so il s are used in wastewater wastewater was biologically treated, and the residual treatment for the removal of heavy metals, and BOD and COD were removed further with activated di ssolved organic compounds whi ch result in the ca rb o n~ . Powdered acti vated carbon and granular reducti on of COD, BOD, and colour. For treatin g acti vated carbon) were used for the terti ary treatment wastewater from multiproduct chem ical plants of wastewater from a petrochemical plant. It was containing organic chemi cal substan ces in varying inferred th at low COD and colour removal compositi on and concentration, which are difficult to effici encies were due to the presence of organic degrade biologicall y, adsorption process I in coll oid s. whi ch were not adsorbed by the carbon. combination with other processes is considered ve ry Granulated carbons prod uced colourl ess efflu ent from effective in reducing COD and colour. the am ber-coloured intluent. The results of removal Adsorbents in industrial wastewater treatment of phenols and cyanides6 by adsorption by acti vated with adsorptive properties of adsorbents, ac ti vated carbon in a pil ot-plant were presented. Some carbon, inorgani c adsorbents and effici ent ind ustrial act ive carbons were used as adsorbents in app li cati ons of activated carbon adsorption processes phenol and pyridine? removal processes and in adsorption of resins and oi ls from coki ng plant *A uth or for correspondence wastewater. It was observed that phenols were more Tcl: 079 3225837. Fax : 079 3225S2S. c-mail: env @ic.guj .nic.in easil y adsorbed than pyridines. It is reported that 54 J SCIIND RES VOL 6 1 JANUARY 2002 anionic, cationic, or nonionic polyelectrolytes or clay to be 90 per cent. The remaining sodium chloride and minerals8 did not inhibit adsorption of phenol on sodium carbonate were recovered and reused in soda activated carbon. The phenol concentration In manufacture. wastewater9 was reduced to less than 0.5 mg/L by passing the wastewater through a three-stage Methodology adsorbing tank, each stage packed with activated The conventional flow sheet of wastewater carbon. treatment used by most of the nndu"trial units, More than 80 per cent COD removal was in c ludes primary treatment, followed by secondary obtained from wastewater containing benzene and tertiary treatments. derivatives. carboxylic acids, pesticides. and phenols During primary treatment , neutralizati on of the by sequential adsorption on sorbents combination of wastewater results into increase of salts (total activated anthracite PorolasT ion exchange resin di ssolved salts). Salts in hi gh concentration inhibit activated anthracite 10. Magnesium oxide contai ning biological activi ty ' 6, and may cause an increase in ll adsorbents are reported to have been used for the nonsettleable suspended solids in the treated treatment of wastewater from pulp manufacturing wastewater I? The tlow sheet given sub equentl y is, plants. therefore,proposed, wherein adsorpti on with Physico- Waste pH Chemical! Treatecl Water Adjustment .. Biological .. Adsorption wdSte Wolter ~ Treatment Conventional flowsheet Wastewater containin g heavy metal s was treated in expensive adsorbents could be employed, prior to with fly ash ' 2 from coal combustion. resu lting in an the conventi onal primary treatment for in creasin g increase in pH to more than 8, a decrease in COD. efficiency of th e biological treatment. and removal of the metals . Methods for reducing This is expected to reduce refractory organi cs concentration of surface-active agents in industrial (COD) as well as BOD of the wastewater wastewater13 were examined and it was observed that substantially at the first stage of wastewater treatment adsorption on coal guaranteed a satisfactory itself, facil itating further treatment. From multi-stage concentration reduction for the carboxyli c and production processes used in the production of alkylsulphate surfactants but not the ami ne. which organic chemicals, wastewater stream is li kely to was best removed by adsorption on benton ite. The contain several organic as well as Inorganic performance of wood c h arcoa l' ~ for the removal or substances including products. intermediates. side DDT from the aqueous phase was in vestigated. The products , byproducts and unreacted raw materials. influence of partic le size, pH, and the time of contact. The industrial wastewaters being hi ghl y complex and which affect the sorption process, was studied in varying widely in the adsorbability of the compounds batch experiments. present l ?, the detailed analysis of such wastewater Adsorption 15 was employed to remove organic streams and study of their adsorption on d i fferent impuntles from wastewater contallllllt! sodium adsorbenrs was very complex. It was, therefore. chloride 5-15, sodium carbonate 1.5. and sodium decided to consider COD as the measure of organic nitrate O. I per cent and monochlorobenzene 0.3. solutes. The colour of the wastewater was also polyamines 0.3, 4,4' diaminodiphenylmethane 0. 3. measured. These parameters (COD and colour) and toluenediamine 2 mg/L for subsequent salt reflect the practical aspects of wastewater treatment recovery. The efficiency of the organi c impurity on the industrial scale. T hus. such a study should be removal from isocyanate manufacture was observed of much relevance to the industry in selecting cost- RATHI & PURANIK: CHEM ICAL INDUSTRY WASTEWATER TREATMENT 55 Physico- Waste pH Chemical! Treated Water Adsorption .. Adjustment ~ Bi ological ~ waste .. Treatment water Proposed flowsheet effective wastewater treatment technique for two from ethanol (before and after biogas generation; complying with the statutory regulation s. The sampl e no. 6 and 7), one from drug intermed iate approach fo ll owed in the evalu ati on of adsorption (diethyl malonate; sample no. 8), two from a complex performance of different adsorbents viz. acti va ted manufacturing vat dyes and intermediates (before and carbon, bentonite, and li gnite in the treatment of after neutralization ; sample no. 9 and 10). and one wastewater is thu s based on detection of COD and from a complex manufacturing various dyes and colour (optical density) in the wastewater with intermediates; sample no. 11 ). These samples were varying degree of treatment. This approach is entirely taken directly from the process plant streams, before different from that followed by many of the these had any chance of getting mixed with any other researchers who prepare wastewater samples from streams. In most of the cases these were concentrated known solutes in the laboratory and carry out streams, often referred as mother li quor. While chemi cal analysis of the treated sampl e. carryin g out experimental stud ies on the wastewater .J from each carboy the sample was analyzed for pH . The COD determination IX is a measure of the colour and COD. Then 500 mL of sample was taken oxygen equivalent of that portion of the organic from the respective carboy in a cylindrical tlask. 2. 5 g matter in a sample that is susceptible to oxidation by activated carbon (AC) was added into the flask and a strong chemical oxidant. It is an important, rap idl y magnetic stirrer was started. 5-10 mL sample was measured parameter for industrial wastewater studies drawn every 15 min from this mass, filtered on filter and for control of wastewater treatment processes. paper and the fi ltrate analyzed for pH, colour and The dichromate reflux method was used for the COD COD. At the end of 2 h, the stirring was stopped and determination because it has advantages over other the experiment was termin ated. The experiments were oxidants in oxidizabi lity, applicabi lity to a wide repeated wit h 5 g bentonite (WP) as well as 5 g variety of samples and ease of manipulation. The li gnite (BP).