Treatment of industrial electroplating wastewater for metals removal via electrocoagulation continous flow reactors

A real industrial electroplating rinsing wastewater was collected and subjected the physical and chemical examination. The study showed that it can be categorized as high strength wastewater, at pH- 2, COD 1430 mg/l, and high level of metals above permissible limits namely: 150, 30, 25, and 2.9 for Ni, Cu, Zn, and Fe mg/l respectively. Therefore, metals must be adequately removed before discharging to avoid any hazardous impact on the environment. Similar synthetic wastewater was prepared to study effect of chemical coagulation for the precipitation of metals. The optimum removal rate was achieved by using a combination of lime and ferric chloride at 100 and 30 mg/l respectively. The chemically treated electroplating wastewater was subjected to an electrocoagulation study. A comparison between iron and stainless-steel electrodes for the removal of metals was investigated. Furthermore, the effect of different electric voltage, and the contact time on metals removal efficiency were also examined. It was found that the optimum removal capacity was achieved when stainless steel electrode was employed in the presence of ferric chloride as coagulant, at 10 volts, 30 min. contact time, and pH 9 for synthetic solution. In a batch treatment system, the real industrial wastewater was treated at the predetermined optimum operating conditions; the removal of metals was 92.1%, 87.8% and 82.9% for Ni. Zn, and Cu respectively. By employing a continuous flow reactor for the treatment of the same real wastewater and under the same operating conditions; metals removal rate increased to 98.9%, 97.4% and 96.6% for Ni. Zn, and Cu respectively. The level of metals in the final treated wastewater copes with Egyptian Environmental Regulation. The overall results confirmed that the electro-coagulation (EC) technology offers an effective alternative process in combination with the conventional chemical coagulation process for reaching high removal performance of toxic metals from the electroplating wastewater. The advantage of EC technique is achieving high treatment efficiency instead of expensive chemical reagents, high construction cost and/or other conventional processes. In addition, the final treated water can be reused for rinsing process in electroplating industry and/or discharging without any environmental hazard effect. It is also recommended to employ solar energy instead of electricity to reduce cost of operation.

EOR Returned Polymer Removal from Produced Water by Chemical Coagulation – A Successful Pilot Testing

Severe fouling of crude oil and produced water treatment equipment of Mangala Processing Terminal (MPT) with elastic deposits has been observed after EOR polymer breaking through to the producing wells. Fouling by polymer containing solids caused the system bottlenecking impacting on crude production rates and deterioration of water quality for injection due to increase of total solids loading. The objective of the study included developing the water treatment technology for removing the returned polymer, developing the pilot run for implementation of the technology and scaling up the process if the pilot shows success. Crude processed at MPT is produced from Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwarya fields which are located at the north-west part of India. Full field polymer flooding has been implemented in the Mangala field from 2015. Fouling of downhole and topside equipment with elastic deposits has been reported soon after polymer breakthrough the same year. For reducing the fouling potential and solids loading, the concept of removing the returned polymer from produced water has been considered as beneficial. Removal of polymer through the chemical coagulation was considered for developing. Extensive laboratory and bench testing have been carried out. Based on the laboratory results, the pilot was developed and carried out on the flotation equipment available at MPT. In the laboratory and bench test for polymer coagulation, over 70% polymer removal was achieved with non-sticky flocks and minimal sludge. The tests also demonstrated reduced suspended solids, residual oil and filterability improvement of treated water. The pilot run confirmed effectiveness of the chemical coagulation process to remove polymer. Polymer removal > 70% was observed during the pilot. Oil removal from produced water at 60-80% was seen. Cloud point of polymer remaining in water increased from 60°C to > 110°C indicating on the significant potential reduction of remaining polymer to precipitate from treated water. The pilot results demonstrated on the applicability of the technology of chemical polymer removal at MPT and will be used for scaling up the treatment facilities.

Chemical Coagulation: An Effective Treatment Technique for Industrial Wastewater

Industrial sector is a backbone of the economy throughout the world. Despite that there are a lot of benefits; such as development of urbanization, major contributor in economy’s growth is sign of industrial development. There are a lot of adverse effects on environment including depletion and damage of our natural and precious resources. Textile, cement, paper and pulp, sugarcane, food, pharmaceuticals, chemical, paint and other industries are largest consumers of the freshwater; for meeting the requirements of industrial production requirement for the industrial sector for their production. As a result the discharged huge amount of water in form of highly polluted water, this is a great threat to our ecosystem. The unplanned industrialization is a prime responsible for degradation of environment. If industrial wastewater is not properly treated instantly, it may create foulest and septic conditions in adjacent parts of the industrial areas. The discharges acute poisonous wastewater by different industries is responsible for reduction of penetration in crops, and severely affects aquatic life. There are many treatment techniques such as coagulation, adsorption, membrane, biological etc. by different research studies disclosed that coagulation with different chemicals alum, ferric chloride, lime, PACl, PVA and ferrous sulphate are very effective for remove of pollution. The industrial wastewater creates several problems such as health problems, aquatic life including water pollution. In this paper reviews the chemical coagulation treatment technologies for industrial wastewater.

Adsorption Capacities of Iron Hydroxide for Arsenate and Arsenite Removal from Water by Chemical Coagulation: Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Equilibrium Studies

Arsenic (As)-laden wastewater may pose a threat to biodiversity when released into soil and water bodies without treatment. The current study investigated the sorption properties of both As(III, V) oxyanions onto iron hydroxide (FHO) by chemical coagulation. The potential mechanisms were identified using the adsorption models, ζ-potential, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FT-IR) analysis. The results indicate that the sorption kinetics of pentavalent and trivalent As species closely followed the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption rates of both toxicants were remarkably governed by pH as well as the quantity of FHO in suspension. Notably, the FHO formation was directly related to the amount of ferric chloride (FC) coagulant added in the solution. The sorption isotherm results show a better maximum sorption capacity for pentavalent As ions than trivalent species, with the same amount of FHO in the suspensions. The thermodynamic study suggests that the sorption process was spontaneously exothermic with increased randomness. The ζ-potential, FT-IR and XRD analyses confirm that a strong Fe-O bond with As(V) and the closeness of the surface potential of the bonded complex to the point of zero charge (pHzpc) resulted in the higher adsorption affinity of pentavalent As species than trivalent ions in most aquatic conditions. Moreover, the presence of sulfates, phosphates, and humic and salicylic acid significantly affected the As(III, V) sorption performance by altering the surface properties of Fe precipitates. The combined effect of charge neutralization, complexation, oxidation and multilayer chemisorption was identified as a major removal mechanism. These findings may provide some understanding regarding the fate, transport and adsorption properties onto FHO of As oxyanions in a complex water environment.