scholarly journals Optimum parameters for humic acid removal and power production by Al–air fuel cell electrocoagulation in synthetic wastewater

Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Haoyang Gong ◽  
Lin Sheng ◽  
Dong Zhou ◽  
Shuguang Zhu

Abstract Although humic acid (HA) is a complex natural organic matter, it can potentially harm the environment and human health. In this study, aluminum–air fuel cell electrocoagulation (AAFCEC) was used to remove HAs from water while generating electricity. This device can generate electricity from the anodic oxidation of aluminum without an external power source as well produce an aluminum coagulant. Operating parameters, namely initial pH, electrolyte concentration, and HA concentration, were analyzed to determine the optimal power generation and removal efficiency. Al–Ferron complexation timed spectrophotometry was used to determine the Al speciation distribution in the solution. The power density of the cell reached 313.47 mW/cm2 for the following conditions: 1 g/L NaCl concentration, 3 cm electrode distance, 20 Ω external resistor, and pH 9. And after about an hour electrolysis, the optimum removal rate of HA was above 99%. The results demonstrate that the AAFCEC is an efficient and eco-friendly water treatment process, and it could be further developed and disseminated in the rural areas and households.

Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Haoyang Gong ◽  
Lin Sheng ◽  
Dong Zhou ◽  
Shuguang Zhu

Abstract Although humic acid (HA) is a complex natural organic matter, it can potentially harm the environment and human health. In this study, aluminum–air fuel cell electrocoagulation (AAFCEC) was used to remove HAs from water while generating electricity. Initial pH, electrolyte concentration, HA concentration electrode distance and external resistance were investigated to determine the power generation and removal efficiency. The results showed that the better performance of power generation has been acquired in the alkaline solution and larger electrolyte concentration and short electrode distance. Further, Al–Ferron complexation timed spectrophotometry was used to determine the Al speciation distribution in the solution under different parameters. The power density of the cell reached 313.47 mW/cm2 for the following conditions: 1 g/L NaCl concentration, 3 cm electrode distance, 20 Ω external resistor, and pH 9. After about an hour electrolysis, the optimum removal rate of HA was above 99%. The results demonstrated that the AAFCEC is an efficient and eco-friendly water treatment process, and it could be further developed and disseminated in the rural areas and households.


2013 ◽  
Vol 470 ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Soo Choi ◽  
Dong Seok Rhee

Ozonation of the ubiquitous and poorly biodegradable humic acid in aquatic system was conducted in the presence of activated carbon with the aim of catalyst. The optimum operating parameters deduced from this study was GAC amount of 16.5 v/v% (GAC column volume per reactor volume) in the humic acid solution of initial pH 9. DOC removal rate in Ozone/GAC process was higher than the sum of Ozone alone and GAC adsorption process. Formaldehyde formation in Ozone/GAC process was less than in Ozone alone and GAC adsorption process. The part of molecular size distribution under 10 k Dalton were increased in the Ozone/GAC process.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 179-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. F. Janning ◽  
X. Le Tallec ◽  
P. Harremoës

Hydrolysis and degradation of particulate organic matter has been isolated and investigated in laboratory scale and pilot scale biofilters. Wastewater was supplied to biofilm reactors in order to accumulate particulates from wastewater in the filter. When synthetic wastewater with no organic matter was supplied to the reactors, hydrolysis of the particulates was the only process occurring. Results from the laboratory scale experiments under aerobic conditions with pre-settled wastewater show that the initial removal rate is high: rV, O2 = 2.1 kg O2/(m3 d) though fast declining towards a much slower rate. A mass balance of carbon (TOC/TIC) shows that only 10% of the accumulated TOC was transformed to TIC during the 12 hour long experiment. The pilot scale hydrolysis experiment was performed in a new type of biofilm reactor - the B2A® biofilter that is characterised by a series of decreasing sized granular media (80-2.5 mm). When hydrolysis experiments were performed on the anoxic pilot biofilter with pre-screened wastewater particulates as carbon source, a rapid (rV, NO3=0.7 kg NO3-N/(m3 d)) and a slowler (rV, NO3 = 0.3 kg NO3-N/(m3 d)) removal rate were observed at an oxygen concentration of 3.5 mg O2/l. It was found that the pilot biofilter could retain significant amounts of particulate organic matter, reducing the porosity of the filter media of an average from 0.35 to 0.11. A mass balance of carbon shows that up to 40% of the total incoming TOC accumulates in the filter at high flow rates. Only up to 15% of the accumulated TOC was transformed to TIC during the 24 hour long experiment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Guozhen Zhang ◽  
Xingxing Huang ◽  
Jinye Ma ◽  
Fuping Wu ◽  
Tianhong Zhou

Electrochemical oxidation technology is an effective technique to treat high-concentration wastewater, which can directly oxidize refractory pollutants into simple inorganic compounds such as H2O and CO2. In this work, two-dimensionally stable anodes, Ti/RuO2-IrO2-SnO2, have been developed in order to degrade organic pollutants from pharmaceutical wastewater. Characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the oxide coating was successfully fabricated on the Ti plate surface. Electrocatalytic oxidation conditions of high concentration pharmaceutical wastewater was discussed and optimized, and the best results showed that the COD removal rate was 95.92% with the energy consumption was 58.09 kW·h/kgCOD under the electrode distance of 3 cm, current density of 8 mA/cm2, initial pH of 2, and air flow of 18 L/min.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ribeiro ◽  
C. Vilarinho ◽  
J. Araújo ◽  
J. Carvalho

The increasing of world population, industrialization and global consuming, existing market products existed in the along with diversification of raw materials, are responsible for an exponential increase of wastes. This scenario represents loss of resources and ultimately causes air, soils and water pollution. Therefore, proper waste management is currently one of the major challenges faced by modern societies. Textile industries represents, in Portugal, almost 10% of total productive transforming sector and 19% of total employments in the sector composed by almost 7.000 companies. One of the main environmental problems of textile industries is the production of significant quantities of wastes from its different processing steps. According to the Portuguese Institute of Statistics (INE) these industries produce almost 500.000 tons of wastes each year, with the textile cotton waste (TCW) being the most expressive. It was estimated that 4.000 tons of TCW are produced each year in Portugal. In this work an integrated TCW valorisation procedure was evaluated, firstly by its thermal and energetic valorisation with slow pyrolysis followed by the utilization of biochar by-product, in lead and chromium synthetic wastewater decontamination. Pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a small scale rotating pyrolysis reactor with 0.1 m3 of total capacity. Results of pyrolysis experiments showed the formation of 0,241 m3 of biogas for each kilogram of TCW. Results also demonstrated that the biogas is mostly composed by hydrogen (22%), methane (14 %), carbon monoxide (20%) and carbon dioxide (12%), which represents a total high calorific value of 12.3 MJ/Nm3. Regarding biochar, results of elemental analysis demonstrated a high percentage of carbon driving its use as low cost adsorbent. Adsorption experiments were conducted with lead and chromium synthetic wastewaters (25, 50 and 100 mg L−1) in batch vessels with controlled pH. It was evaluated the behaviour of adsorption capacity and removal rate of each metal during 120 minutes of contact time using 5, 10 and 50 g L−1 of adsorbent dosage. Results indicated high affinity of adsorbent with each tested metal with 78% of removal rate in chromium and 95% in lead experiments. This suggests that biochar from TCW pyrolysis may be appropriated to wastewaters treatment, with high contents of heavy metals and it can be an effective alternative to activated carbon.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1114-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Gunnarsdottir ◽  
S. M. Gardarsson ◽  
H. O. Andradottir

This paper explores the fate and transport of microbial contamination in a cold climate and coarse aquifers. A confirmed norovirus outbreak in a small rural water supply in the late summer of 2004, which is estimated to have infected over 100 people, is used as a case study. A septic system, 80 m upstream of the water intake, is considered to have contaminated drinking water. Water samples tested were negative for coliform and strongly positive for norovirus. Modelling predicts that a 4.8-log10 removal was possible in the 8 m thick vadose zone, while only a 0.7-log10 and 2.7-log10 removal in the aquifer for viruses and Escherichia coli, respectively. The model results support that the 80 m setback distance was inadequate and roughly 900 m aquifer transport distance was needed to achieve 9-log10 viral removal. Sensitivity analysis showed that the most influential parameters on model transport removal rate are grain size diameter and groundwater velocity, temperature and acidity. The results demonstrate a need for systematic evaluation of septic systems in rural areas in lesser studied coarse strata at low temperatures, thereby strengthening data used for regulatory requirements for more confident determination on safe setback distances.


2014 ◽  
Vol 884-885 ◽  
pp. 190-194
Author(s):  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Ran Di Zhang ◽  
Yu Bing Song ◽  
Run Ping Han ◽  
Yan Qiang Li

The adsorption studies of 4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxy nitrobenzene (CDNB) from aqueous solution on pyrolytic char activated by ammonium dihydrogen phosphate from pine sawdust have been performed. Several experimental parameters like initial pH, NaCl concentration, contact time solution temperature were evaluated. Solution pH within 2-7 is favor of adsorption and it is advantage of adsorption at higher temperature. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were used to fit the experimental data and Temkin model was better. The adsorption capacity was up to 33.8 mg·g1at 323 K. The process is spontaneous and endothermic and physical action is major mechanism.


2013 ◽  
Vol 864-867 ◽  
pp. 1509-1512
Author(s):  
Xue Mei Zhang ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Di Fan

This paper presents the adsorption behaviors of humic acid (HA) on coal ashes and powdered activated carbons (PACs). A bituminous coal, with or without calcium-loading, was used as a feedstock for coal ash preparation. The working solution of HA with a concentration of 20 mg/L was used in all adsorption tests. The results showed that calcium-enriched coal ash (CECA) gave rise to the removal rate of HA as high as 84.05%, much higher than those of raw coal ash (RCA) and PACs. The impacts of solution pH and adsorbent dosage on HA adsorption capacity were also investigated. It was found that lower pH facilitated to the removal of HA from aqueous solution by means of CECA, and the optimal CECA dosage was about 1.0g/L at pH 7.00. The data obtained in this study suggested that calcium-enriched coal ash could be useful and cost-effective in the treatment of wastewaters containing HA-like organic macro-molecules.


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