Solar-driven advanced oxidation processes for full mineralisation of azo dyes in wastewater

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunhong Nie ◽  
Pingping Sun ◽  
Lingyue Zhu ◽  
Simeng Gao ◽  
Hongjun Wu ◽  
...  

Environmental contextFull mineralisation of synthetic azo dyes in industrial wastewater is a tough job for traditional wastewater treatment technologies. There is an urgent need for the development of both sustainable and environmentally friendly technology capable of fully mineralising these azo compounds. We show that solar-driven advanced oxidation processes are capable of completely mineralising azo compounds with high utilisation of solar energy. AbstractMineralisation of synthetic azo dyes in industrial wastewater is an energy-intensive process in treatment technology. The Solar Thermal Electrochemical Process for advanced oxidation processes (STEP-AOPs) utilises solar energy and electricity for the activation and electrooxidation of organic pollutants to harmless, small and non-toxic molecules with no other energy consumption. Based on molecular structure and chemistry, the STEP-AOPs for the treatment of azo dyes in wastewater, as exemplified with a typical azo dye, methyl orange, is reported for the first time. Thermodynamic calculations of the temperature-dependent potentials of methyl orange demonstrate that Gibbs free energy decreased by 161kJmol–1 and the potential decreased by 0.019V with an increase of temperature from 20 to 80°C, which indicates that the drop in both energy and potential specifically fits the STEP-AOPs technique. Experimental results showed that the STEP-AOPs achieved a total organic carbon (TOC) removal of 95.6% for methyl orange. The TOC removal rate improved by 39.8% and the unit TOC electricity consumption decreased by 53.8% at 80°C compared with conventional methods (20°C). The mineralisation mechanism for methyl orange was a gradual shortening of the molecular chain through cleavage of the azo bond, breakdown of the benzene ring and formation of inorganic small molecules susceptible to be oxidised to non-toxic small molecules, and carbon dioxide via STEP-AOPs. The evidence shows that the STEP-AOPs is capable of mineralising azo compounds completely.

Author(s):  
Zahia Benredjem ◽  
Karima Barbari ◽  
Imene Chaabna ◽  
Samia Saaidia ◽  
Abdelhak Djemel ◽  
...  

Abstract The Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are promising environmentally friendly technologies for the treatment of wastewater containing organic pollutants in general and particularly dyes. The aim of this work is to determine which of the AOP processes based on the Fenton reaction is more effective in degrading the methyl orange (MO) dye. The comparative study of the Fenton, photo-Fenton (PF) and electro-Fenton (EF) processes has shown that electro-Fenton is the most efficient method for oxidizing Methyl Orange. The evolution of organic matter degradation was followed by absorbance (discoloration) and COD (mineralization) measurements. The kinetics of the MO degradation by the electro-Fenton process is very rapid and the OM degradation rate reached 90.87% after 5 min. The influence of some parameters such as the concentration of the catalyst (Fe (II)), the concentration of MO, the current density, the nature and the concentration of supporting electrolyte was investigated. The results showed that the degradation rate increases with the increase in the applied current density and the concentration of the supporting electrolyte. The study of the concentration effect on the rate degradation revealed optimal values for the concentrations 2.10−5 M and 75 mg L−1 of Fe (II) and MO respectively.


Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Yi-Ping Lin ◽  
Ramdhane Dhib ◽  
Mehrab Mehrvar

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is an emerging pollutant commonly found in industrial wastewater, owing to its extensive usage as an additive in the manufacturing industry. PVA’s popularity has made wastewater treatment technologies for PVA degradation a popular research topic in industrial wastewater treatment. Although many PVA degradation technologies are studied in bench-scale processes, recent advancements in process optimization and control of wastewater treatment technologies such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) show the feasibility of these processes by monitoring and controlling processes to meet desired regulatory standards. These wastewater treatment technologies exhibit complex reaction mechanisms leading to nonlinear and nonstationary behavior related to variability in operational conditions. Thus, black-box dynamic modeling is a promising tool for designing control schemes since dynamic modeling is more complicated in terms of first principles and reaction mechanisms. This study seeks to provide a survey of process control methods via a comprehensive review focusing on PVA degradation methods, including biological and advanced oxidation processes, along with their reaction mechanisms, control-oriented dynamic modeling (i.e., state-space, transfer function, and artificial neural network modeling), and control strategies (i.e., proportional-integral-derivative control and predictive control) associated with wastewater treatment technologies utilized for PVA degradation.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3010
Author(s):  
Eva Domingues ◽  
Maria João Silva ◽  
Telma Vaz ◽  
João Gomes ◽  
Rui C. Martins

Wastewaters from the olive oil industry are a regional environmental problem. Their phenolic content provides inherent toxicity, which reduces the treatment potential of conventional biological systems. In this study, Sulfate Radical based Advanced Oxidation Processes (SRbAOPs) are compared with advanced oxidation processes (namely Fenton’s peroxidation) as a depuration alternative. Synthetic olive mill wastewaters were submitted to homogeneous and heterogeneous SRbAOPs using iron sulfate and solid catalysts (red mud and Fe-Ce-O) as the source of iron (II). The homogenous process was optimized by testing different pH values, as well as iron and persulfate loads. At the best conditions (pH 5, 300 mg/L of iron and 600 mg/L of persulfate), it was possible to achieve 39%, 63% and 37% COD, phenolic compounds and TOC removal, respectively. The catalytic potential of a waste (red mud) and a laboratory material (Fe-Ce-O) was tested using heterogenous SRbAOPs. The best performance was achieved by Fe-Ce-O, with an optimal load of 1600 mg/L. At these conditions, 27%, 55% and 5% COD, phenolic compounds and TOC removal were obtained, respectively. Toxicity tests on A. fischeri and L. sativum showed no improvements in toxicity from the treated solutions when compared with the original one. Thus, SRbAOPs use a suitable technology for synthetic OMW.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2811
Author(s):  
Dheaya Alrousan ◽  
Arsalan Afkhami ◽  
Khalid Bani-Melhem ◽  
Patrick Dunlop

In keeping with the circular economy approach, reclaiming greywater (GW) is considered a sustainable approach to local reuse of wastewater and a viable option to reduce household demand for freshwater. This study investigated the mineralization of total organic carbon (TOC) in GW using TiO2-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in a custom-built stirred tank reactor. The combinations of H2O2, O3, and immobilized TiO2 under either dark or UVA irradiation conditions were systematically evaluated—namely TiO2/dark, O3/dark (ozonation), H2O2/dark (peroxidation), TiO2/UVA (photocatalysis), O3/UVA (Ozone photolysis), H2O2/UVA (photo-peroxidation), O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic ozonation), O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic ozonation), H2O2/TiO2/dark, H2O2/TiO2/UVA, H2O2/O3/dark (peroxonation), H2O2/O3/UVA (photo-peroxonation), H2O2/O3/TiO2/dark (catalytic peroxonation), and H2O2/O3/TiO2/UVA (photocatalytic peroxonation). It was found that combining different treatment methods with UVA irradiation dramatically enhanced the organic mineralization efficiency. The optimum TiO2 loading in this study was observed to be 0.96 mg/cm2 with the highest TOC removal (54%) achieved using photocatalytic peroxonation under optimal conditions (0.96 mg TiO2/cm2, 25 mg O3/min, and 0.7 H2O2/O3 molar ratio). In peroxonation and photo-peroxonation, the optimal H2O2/O3 molar ratio was identified to be a critical efficiency parameter maximizing the production of reactive radical species. Increasing ozone flow rate or H2O2 dosage was observed to cause an efficiency inhibition effect. This lab-based study demonstrates the potential for combined TiO2-AOP treatments to significantly reduce the organic fraction of real GW, offering potential for the development of low-cost systems permitting safe GW reuse.


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