A Feasibility Study of Ammonia Recovery from Coking Wastewater by Coupled Operation of a Membrane Contactor and Membrane Distillation.

More than 80% of ammonia (NH3) in the steel manufacturing process wastewater is contributed from the coking wastewater, which is usually treated by biological processes. However, the NH3 in the coking wastewater is typically too high for biological treatment due to its inhibitory concentration. Therefore, a two-stage process including a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) and a modified membrane distillation (MD) system was developed and applied to reduce and recover NH3 from coking wastewater. The objectives of this paper are to evaluate different membrane materials, receiving solutions, and operation parameters for the system, remove NH3 from the coking wastewater to less than 300 mg N/L, which is amenable to the biological process, and recover ammonia solution for reuse. As a result, the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) HFMC using sulfuric acid as a receiving solution can achieve a maximum NH3-N transmembrane flux of 1.67 g N/m²·h at pH of 11.5 and reduce NH3 in the coking wastewater to less than 300 mg N/L. The NH3 in the converted ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) was then recovered by the modified MD using ice water as the receiving solution to produce ≥3% of ammonia solution for reuse.

Effects of activated carbon characteristics on the electrosorption capacity of titanium dioxide/activated carbon composite electrode materials prepared by a microwave-assisted ionothermal synthesis method.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2)/ activated carbon (AC) composite materials, as capacitive deionization electrodes, were prepared by a two-step microwave-assisted ionothermal synthesis method. The electrosorption capacity of the composite electrodes was studied and the effects of AC characteristics were explored. These effects were investigated by multiple analytical techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, etc. The experimental results indicated that the electrosorption capacity of the TiO2/AC composite electrode is dependent on the characteristics of AC including the pore structure and the surface property. An enhancement in electrosorption capacity was observed for the TiO2/AC composite electrode prepared from the AC with higher mesopore content and less hydrophilic surface. This enhancement is due to the deposition of anatase TiO2 with suitable amount of Ti-OH. On the other hand, a decline in electrosorption capacity was observed for the TiO2/AC composite electrode prepared from the AC with higher micropore content and highly hydrophilic surface. High content of hydrogen bond complex formed between the functional group on hydrophilic surface with H2O, which will slow down the TiO2 precursor-H2O reaction. In such situation, the effect of TiO2 becomes unfavorable as the loading amount of TiO2 is less and the micropore can also be blocked.