Effects of flocculent aggregates on microfiltration with coagulation pretreatment of high turbidity waters

Application of hybrid coagulation microfiltration with air backflushing to direct sewage concentration for organic matter recovery

The idea of sewage concentration is gradually being accepted as a promising and sustainable way of wastewater resource recovery. In this study, Hybrid coagulation microfiltration (HCM) with air backflushing (AB) was investigated to effectively concentrate organic matter. Compared to direct sewage microfiltration, the addition of coagulation process improved the filtration performance with less fouling trends and better concentration efficiency. The use of AB exhibited even better performance within the same 7-h preliminary concentration period by reducing to one tenth of the resistance and collecting around four times as much organic matter into the product concentrate as in direct sewage microfiltration. During 93-h lab-scale continuous concentration by HCM with AB, a product concentrate with the COD concentration over 15,000 mg/L was achieved and around 70% of total influent organic matter could be recovered. Compared to Direct Membrane Filtration (DMF) with Chemically Enhanced Backwash (CEB), HCM with AB achieved better concentration efficiency with higher concentration extent and concentration velocity along with less organic matter mineralization and the more concentrated product despite with lower organic matter retention. HCM with AB could be a promising effective sewage organic matter concentration for resource recovery under optimization.

RO/NF membrane treatment of veterinary pharmaceutical wastewater: comparison of results obtained on a laboratory and a pilot scale

BACKGROUND

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are commonly derived from industrial wastewater, which is often a consequence of an inadequate treatment of the latter. Improperly pretreated pharmaceutical wastewater could cause difficulties in operations of wastewater treatment plants while incomplete elimination of ECs during the processing might result in their appearance in drinking water.

METHODS

This paper deals with membrane treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater on a laboratory and a pilot scale as well as with the removal of the following veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs) (sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, dexamethasone, and febantel).

RESULTS

The pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewater by means of coagulation and microfiltration (MF) prevented the irreversible fouling of the fine porous structure of the reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes which were used in the final stage of wastewater processing. The percentage of the removal of the selected VPs ranges from 94% to almost 100% in the case of NF and RO membranes in both scales. The recovery percentage concerning the pilot scale amounted to 88%. Membrane cleaning was successfully carried out in both scales.

CONCLUSIONS

The differences in retention between laboratory and pilot tests are due to different raw wastewater quality and different recovery and hydrodynamic of the two systems. Fouling and concentration polarization were more pronounced in laboratory setup (frame-plate module) than in pilot unit (spiral module). The proposed integrated membrane treatment (coagulation, MF, NF, and RO) can be employed for treatment of wastewater originating from pharmaceutical factory. The obtained permeate can be safely discharged to sewer system or could be reused in manufacturing process.

Role of food and clay particles in toxicity of copper and diazinon using Daphnia magna

Toxicity changes in copper and diazinon were investigated in the presence of food, clay, and their mixture by using Daphnia magna. In sorption equilibrium experiments, copper was significantly attracted (>34% sorbed) to food, clay, and food-clay mixture due to their negative zeta potential, while diazinon was less sorbed (<11%). In the exposure test with food and clay particles, it was revealed that copper was remarkably reduced in the presence of clay particles indicating the change in bioavailability of copper by sorption to clay. This was considered as the primary mechanism for toxicity reduction whereas diazinon toxicity was food dependent in the analysis of toxicity using toxicity change index (TCI). It was also shown that certain foods could not only act as a sorbent to copper and diazinon, but also as a material of energy source to alleviate the toxic damage. Meanwhile, clay can be considered as a prominent sorbent to copper but not to diazinon and can inhibit the sorption interaction between foodstuffs and toxicants through the aggregation and sedimentation processes. Furthermore, clay particles, as shown in TCI analysis, may be a potentially risky material as a physiological stressor or a toxicant carrier in contaminated environments.