Recovering struvite from livestock wastewater by fluidized-bed homogeneous crystallization as a pre-treatment process to sludge co-digestion.

Livestock wastewater can contain high levels of phosphates and trace amounts of various ionic species harming the environment and human health. These ions can be successfully removed from livestock effluent and recovered in a non-toxic crystal form via crystallization. The fluidized bed homogeneous crystallization (FBHC) technology is a cutting-edge pretreatment method that removes phosphate and ammonium by crystallizing struvite. The findings demonstrated a 37% removal for ammonium solutions alone, 38% with copper, 35% with zinc, and 33% when copper and zinc were present, while the crystallization efficiency was achieved at 35%, 33% with copper, 28% with zinc, and 26% with copper and zinc. For phosphate-containing solutions, 95% was removed, 81% with copper, 96% with zinc, and 88% with copper and zinc. Similarly, crystallization efficiency was attained at 87%, 60% with copper, 94% with zinc, and 81% when copper and zinc were combined with phosphates. For ammonium solutions, copper and zinc reduced the removal and crystallization efficiency at constant pH and increased at increasing pH. For phosphate solutions, the removal and crystallization efficiencies increased at increasing pH. However, zinc ions resulted in the highest removal, and crystallization efficiency for phosphate solutions was attained. Based on SEM, EDS, XRD, and XPS analyses, the peaks revealed the presence of struvite in the form of magnesium ammonium phosphate.

Kinetics and thermodynamics of organo-sulfur-compound desorption from saturated neutral activated alumina.

Desulfurization of liquid fuels mitigates the amount of noxious sulfur oxides and particulates released during fuel combustion. Existing literature on oxidative-adsorptive desulfurization technologies focus on sulfur-in-fuel removal by various materials, but very little information is presented about their desorption kinetics and thermodynamics. Herein, we report for the first time, the mechanism of sulfur desorption from neutral activated alumina saturated with dibenzothiophene sulfone. Batch experiments were conducted to examine the effects of agitation rate, desorption temperature, sulfur content, and eluent type on sulfur desorption efficiencies. Results show enhanced desorption capacities at higher agitation rate, desorption temperature, and initial sulfur content. Desorption efficiency and capacity of acetone were found to be remarkably superior to ethanol, acetone:ethanol (1:1), and acetone:isopropanol (1:1). Desorption kinetics reveal excellent fit of the nonlinear pseudo-second-order equation on desorption data, indicating chemisorption as the rate-determining step. Results of the thermodynamics study show the spontaneous (ΔG° ≤ -2.08 kJ mol-1) and endothermic (ΔH° = 32.35 kJ mol-1) nature of sulfur desorption using acetone as eluent. Maximum regeneration efficiency was attained at 93% after washing the spent adsorbent with acetone followed by oven-drying. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy analyses reveal the intact and undamaged structure of neutral activated alumina even after adsorbent regeneration. Overall, the present work demonstrates the viability of neutral activated alumina as an efficient and reusable adsorbent for the removal of sulfur compounds from liquid fossil fuels.

Enhanced recovery of aluminum from wastewater using a fluidized bed homogeneously dispersed granular reactor.

The recovery of aluminum from wastewater is one of the main environmental issues that need to be addressed in the aluminum finishing industry. A new technique of converting a soft slurry into hard granules using the homogeneous granulation process in the fluidized-bed reactor (FBR) can respond to this problem. It is a better method of remediation than producing a slurry containing 70% water. This study deals with the recovery of aluminum from aqueous solutions using Fluidized-bed homogeneous granulation process (FBHGP) without seeds. The hydraulic operating conditions were optimized using Box-Behnken Design (BBD) to attain the optimum aluminum removal (AR%) and granulation ratio (GR%). Optimum values of AR% = 98.8% and GR% = 96.9% were attained at the following conditions: influent aluminum concentration, 334.1 mg L-1; precipitant pH, 10.4; molar ratio (MR) of precipitant to metal [OH-]in/[Al3+]in, 2.5. The characteristics of the granules were comparable with those of orthorhombic structure of aluminum oxide (Al2.66O4). FBHGP was proven to be effective as dictated by the reaction mechanism in the recovery of aluminum from aluminum-rich aqueous solutions.

Recovery of phosphorus from synthetic wastewaters by struvite crystallization in a fluidized-bed reactor: Effects of pH, phosphate concentration and coexisting ions.

The crystallization of struvite in fluidized-bed crystallizer (FBC) was performed to treat synthetic wastewaters that contain phosphorous. Under optimal conditions (pH 9.5, molar ratio Mg/N/P = 1.3/4/1, struvite seed dose (53-297 µm) = 30 g L-1, total flow rate = 12 ml min-1, reflux = 120 ml min-1), the removal of phosphate (PR) and the crystallization ratio (CR) were 95.8% and 93.5%, respectively. Based on a thermodynamic prediction, the supersaturation, which was obtained from the difference between the theoretical solubility and phosphate concentration, predominated the crystallization efficiency and the properties of the struvite pellets, such as their morphology, particle size and apparent density. Coexisting ions NO3- (80, 160 ppm), CH2COOH- (260, 520 ppm), F- (650, 1300 ppm) and SO42- (650, 1300 ppm), were utilized to prepare P-containing wastewaters. Of these ions, SO42- (1300 ppm) remarkably reduced the capability of FBC to remove phosphate from solution. In the presence of NO3- and CH3COO- (for synthesizing TFT-LCD wastewater), and F- and SO42- (for synthesizing semiconductor wastewater), CR% was lower than in pure water, although the ultimate PR% did not differ significantly.

Removal of copper ions from aqueous solution by adlai shell (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) adsorbents.

Adlai shell (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) adsorbents (ASA) were used to remove copper ions from aqueous solutions under batch conditions. The effect of physical and chemical modification of ASA on Cu(II) removal was evaluated. Results showed that the high coefficients of determination for the pseudo-second order (R(2) > 0.9999) and for the intraparticle diffusion (R(2) > 0.9843) equations indicate that the rate-determining step is a combination of pore diffusion and chemisorption at low Cu(II) concentration and boundary layer, pore diffusion and chemisorption at high Cu(II) concentration. At 298K and 100 mg L(-1) Cu(II), the computed qe and k2 values were 17.2 mg g(-1) and 0.012 g mg(-1) min(-1), respectively. The Freundlich model (R(2) > 0.9636) adequately describes the experimental data indicating heterogeneous adsorption. Overall, the results of the study demonstrate the potential of adlai shell adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions.

Effect of carrier composition on 2,6-dimethylaniline degradation in aqueous solution by fluidized-bed Fenton process.

The fluidized-bed Fenton process is an alternative process that decreases iron sludge from the Fenton reaction by using carriers to crystallize iron on to the surface of the carrier. In this study, the target compound is 2,6-dimethylaniline, which is a carcinogen and difficult to degrade. This study examined the effect of different carriers on the degradation of 2,6-dimethylaniline by a fluidized-bed Fenton process. The six carriers were alumina dioxide (Al2O3), silica dioxide (SiO2), and black, white, brown and coloured gravels. The results revealed that differences in the composition of elements and the structures of each carrier have different effects on the oxidation of 2,6-dimethylaniline. The carriers containing Ca were not suitable for use in the fluidized-bed Fenton process. In contrast, Al2O3 and SiO2 were more efficient at removing 2,6-dimethylaniline, and the pH value was almost stable. Moreover, 2,6-dimethylanililne removal efficiency of Al2O3 was higher compared with the other carriers. Therefore, in this study, Al2O3 was an optimum carrier for the oxidation of 2,6-dimethylaniline.

Kinetics of 2,6-dimethylaniline oxidation by various Fenton processes.

The kinetics of 2,6-dimethylaniline degradation by Fenton process, electro-Fenton process and photoelectro-Fenton process was investigated. This study attempted to eliminate the potential interferences from intermediates by making a kinetics comparison of Fenton, electro-Fenton and photoelectro-Fenton methods through use initial rate techniques during the first 10 min of the reaction. Exactly how the initial concentration of 2,6-dimethylaniline, ferrous ions and hydrogen peroxide affects 2,6-dimethylaniline degradation was also examined. Experimental results indicate that the 2,6-dimethylaniline degradation in the photoelectro-Fenton process is superior to the ordinary Fenton and electro-Fenton processes. Additionally, for 100% removal of 1mM 2,6-dimethylaniline, the supplementation of 1mM of ferrous ion, 20mM of hydrogen peroxide, current density at 15.89 A m(-2) and 12 UVA lamps at pH 2 was necessary. The overall rate equations for 2,6-dimethylaniline degradation by Fenton, electro-Fenton and photoelectro-Fenton processes were proposed as well.