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Bani-Melhem K, Elektorowicz M, Tawalbeh M, Al Bsoul A, El Gendy A, Kamyab H, Yusuf M. Integrating of electrocoagulation process with submerged membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment under low voltage gradients. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 339:139693. [PMID: 37536541 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 07/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/30/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
Treating and reusing wastewater has become an essential aspect of water management worldwide. However, the increase in emerging pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are presented in wastewater from various sources like industry, roads, and household waste, makes their removal difficult due to their low concentration, stability, and ability to combine with other organic substances. Therefore, treating a low load of wastewater is an attractive option. The study aimed to address membrane fouling in the submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) used for wastewater treatment. An aluminum electrocoagulation (EC) device was combined with SMBR as a pre-treatment to reduce fouling. The EC-SMBR process was compared with a conventional SMBR without EC, fed with real grey water. To prevent impeding biological growth, low voltage gradients were utilized in the EC deviceThe comparison was conducted over 60 days with constant transmembrane pressure and infinite solid retention time (SRT). In phase I, when the EC device was operated at a low voltage gradient (0.64 V/cm), no significant improvement in the pollutants removal was observed in terms of color, turbidity, and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Nevertheless, during phase II, a voltage gradient of 1.26 V/cm achieved up to 100%, 99.7%, 92%, 94.1%, and 96.5% removals in the EC-SMBR process in comparison with 95.1%, 95.4%, 85%, 91.7% and 74.2% removals in the SMBR process for turbidity, color, COD, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), total phosphorus (TP), respectively. SMBR showed better anionic surfactant (AS) removal than EC-SMBR. A voltage gradient of 0.64 V/cm in the EC unit significantly reduced fouling by 23.7%, while 1.26 V/cm showed inconsistent results. Accumulation of Al ions negatively affected membrane performance. Low voltage gradients in EC can control SMBR fouling if Al concentration is controlled. Future research should investigate EC-SMBR with constant membrane flux for large-scale applications, considering energy consumption and operating costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khalid Bani-Melhem
- Water Technology Unit (WTU), Center for Advanced Materials (CAM). Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
| | - Maria Elektorowicz
- Dept. of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1455 Blvd de Maisonneuve W., Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
| | - Muhammad Tawalbeh
- Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates; Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Abeer Al Bsoul
- Al-Balqa Applied University, Al-Huson University College, Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan
| | - Ahmed El Gendy
- Environmental Engineering Program, Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt
| | - Hesam Kamyab
- Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, UTE University, Calle Rumipamba S/N and Bourgeois, Quito, Ecuador; Department of Biomaterials, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, 600 077, India; Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
| | - Mohammad Yusuf
- Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, 32610, Malaysia.
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Bani-Melhem K, Al-Kilani MR, Tawalbeh M. Evaluation of scrap metallic waste electrode materials for the application in electrocoagulation treatment of wastewater. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 310:136668. [PMID: 36209869 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The constant need for sacrificial electrodes is one of the limitations of applying the EC in wastewater treatment. Accordingly, this study proposes a sustainable alternative in reusing scrap metallic wastes as electrode materials. Four different types of metallic wastes (beverage cans, used aluminum (Al) foil, scrap iron, and scrap mild steel) are proposed as sacrificial electrodes for grey water (GW) treatment using the EC technique. At electrical current densities (CD) ranging between 5 and 20 mA/cm2, the treatment performance was evaluated for a reaction time of 10 min in terms of the removal efficiency of some key parameters such as color, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and electrical conductivity, energy and material consumption, and metal contamination of GW from electrodes. The results demonstrated that using metallic wastes as sacrificial electrodes can achieve a considerable reduction in color, turbidity, COD, and electric conductivity of about 97.2%, 99%, 88%, and 89%, respectively. However, their reuse as electrodes revealed some important concerns. Al foil undergoes quick and substantial perforation and loss of surface area during electrolysis. The scrap iron and scrap mild steel were found to cause metal contamination by increasing Fe ions in the treated GW. Generally, metal scrap wastes can serve effectively as alternative sustainable electrodes. However, further research is recommended regarding the operating costs, which are considered crucial aspects of the EC process in terms of energy consumption and the most efficient method of fabricating the metallic wastes into a form suitable for reuse in the EC technique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khalid Bani-Melhem
- Department of Water Management and Environment, Faculty of Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal for Natural Resources and Environment, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan
| | - Muhammad Rasool Al-Kilani
- Department of Land, Water and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan
| | - Muhammad Tawalbeh
- Department of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Sustainable Energy & Power Systems Research Centre, RISE, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
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Sharaj Sharifi N, Karimi-Jashni A. Development and application of novel high throughput metal waste chips and foam electrodes for electrocoagulation treatment of graywater. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2023; 44:528-539. [PMID: 34479462 DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2021.1976845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
In this study, novel high throughput metal waste chips and foam electrodes were developed for the electrocoagulation of graywater for the first time. The developed electrodes were then compared with traditional metal plate electrodes, which showed higher efficiency of developed electrodes. The effective parameters of pH, electrode distance, applied voltage, and reaction time on COD removal were optimized using RSM as a multivariate optimization technique, and the data were analyzed by ANOVA, normal plot, residual distribution, and 3D plots. The optimal conditions for electrocoagulation of graywater using metal (Al) plate electrode were determined as a pH of 6.86, electrode distance of 5 mm, and applied voltage of 5 V for a reaction time of 10 min, resulting in 89.1% COD removal and 74% turbidity removal. Finally, the performance of aluminum plate electrodes, foam electrodes, and electrodes made from metal waste chips was compared using COD removal efficiency as the index, revealing 84%, 93%, and 87% COD removal, respectively. These results demonstrated that the newly developed electrodes are suitable for graywater treatment with excellent COD removal efficiency, metal chip waste recycling, and cost-saving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niloofar Sharaj Sharifi
- School of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Ayoub Karimi-Jashni
- School of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
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Photocatalytic degradation activity of goji berry extract synthesized silver-loaded mesoporous zinc oxide (Ag@ZnO) nanocomposites under simulated solar light irradiation. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10017. [PMID: 35705651 PMCID: PMC9200859 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14117-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Different approaches have been developed for the synthesis of various nanostructured materials with unique morphologies. This study demonstrated the photocatalytic and antimicrobial abilities of silver-loaded zinc oxide nanocomposites (Ag@ZnO NCs). Initially, ZnO with a unique mesoporous ellipsoidal morphology in the size range of 0.59 ± 0.11 × 0.33 ± 0.09 µm (length × width) was synthesized using aqueous precipitation in a mild hydrothermal condition (80 °C) with the aqueous fruit extract of goji berry (GB) (as an additive) and calcined in air at 200 °C/2 h and 250 °C/3 h. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the formation of a hexagonal phase of the wurtzite (WZ) structure. The average crystallite size of ZnO was 23.74 ± 4.9 nm as calculated using Debye–Scherrer’s equation. It also possesses higher thermal stability with the surface area, pore volume, and pore size of 11.77 m2/g, 0.027 cm3/g, and 9.52 nm, respectively. Furthermore, different mesoporous Ag@ZnO NCs loaded with face-centered cubic (fcc) silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in the range of 90–160 nm were synthesized by GB extract as a reducing and capping agent on the surface of ZnO after calcination in air. The immobilization of Ag NPs was confirmed by XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), FE-transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that Ag0.2@ZnO NC (0.2 wt% of Ag) showed excellent photocatalytic degradation of both methylene blue (MB) (cationic) and congo red (CR) (anionic) dyes under simulated solar irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation of 99.3 ± 0.35% MB and 98.5 ± 1.3% CR occurred in 90 and 55 min, respectively, at room temperature by Ag0.2@ZnO NC. Besides, these NCs also showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The mechanistic concept of generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) by electron and hole charge (e‾/h+) carriers seems to be responsible for the photocatalytic degradation of commercial dyes and antibacterial activities by Ag@ZnO NCs. Thus, these silver-loaded mesoporous ellipsoidal ZnO NCs are promising candidates as photocatalysts for industrial/wastewater treatment as well as in antimicrobial therapeutics.
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Narewadikar N, Rajpure K. Study on effect of deposition temperature on photoelectrocatalyatic performance of immobilized TiO2. Chem Phys Lett 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2021.139279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Abstract
Existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) face huge challenges that can impede the achievement of sustainable development goals for clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and clean energy (SDG 7), amongst others [...]
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Abstract
Increased concentrations of natural organic matter (NOM), a complex mixture of organic substances found in most surface waters, have recently emerged as a substantial environmental issue. NOM has a significant variety of molecular and chemical properties, which in combination with its varying concentrations both geographically and seasonally, introduce the opportunity for an array of interactions with the environment. Due to an observable increase in amounts of NOM in water treatment supply sources, an improved effort to remove naturally-occurring organics from drinking water supplies, as well as from municipal wastewater effluents, is required to continue the development of highly efficient and versatile water treatment technologies. Photocatalysis has received increasing interest from around the world, especially during the last decade, as several investigated processes have been regularly reported to be amongst the best performing water treatment technologies to remove NOM from drinking water supplies and mitigate the formation of disinfection by products. Consequently, this overview highlights recent research and developments on the application of photocatalysis to degrade NOM by means of TiO2-based heterogeneous and homogeneous photocatalysts. Analytical techniques to quantify NOM in water and hybrid photocatalytic processes are also reviewed and discussed.
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