Purification of real car wash wastewater with complex coagulation/flocculation methods using polyaluminum chloride, polyelectrolyte, clay mineral and cationic surfactant.

In the present study, real car wash wastewater was purified by different coagulation/flocculation methods. As coagulant, polyaluminum chloride ('BOPAC'), conventional iron(III) chloride, iron(III) sulfate, and aluminum(III) chloride were used, while as flocculant non-ionic and anionic polyelectrolytes were investigated. The effects of added clay mineral (Na-bentonite) and cationic surfactant (hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide - 'HTABr') were also investigated. The use of BOPAC was significantly more effective than conventional coagulants. Extra addition of clay mineral was also beneficial in relation to both the sediment volume and sedimentation speed, while polyelectrolyte addition enhanced further the sedimentation. Moreover, the simultaneous addition of HTABr significantly enhanced the color removal efficiency due to the successful in-situ generation of organophilic bentonite. In summary, the application of 100 mg L-1 Na-bentonite with 20 mg L-1 Al3+ (from BOPAC) and 0.5 mg L-1 anionic polyelectrolyte resulted in the efficient reduction of the turbidity (4-6 NTU), the COD (158 mg L-1) and the extractable oil content (4 mg L-1) with efficiencies of 98%, 59%, and 85%, respectively. By applying organophilic bentonite in high concentration (500 mg L-1) with identical concentrations of BOPAC and anionic polyelectrolyte, significant color removal (5 times lower absorbance at λ = 400 nm) and 27% lower sediment volume were achieved.

Investigation of surface and filtration properties of TiO2 coated ultrafiltration polyacrylonitrile membranes.

In the present work, the surface and filtration properties of TiO2 coated polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration membranes were investigated. The membranes were coated using the physical deposition method. The appropriate TiO2 coverage proved to be 0.3 mg/cm2, which formed a hydrophilic cake layer on the membrane surface. The cleanability without chemicals and the retention of the coated membranes was compared to the neat membrane after model oily wastewater filtration. The cleaning sustained of rinsing with distilled water and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of the fouled membranes. The coated membranes have better antifouling properties; higher flux values during oily water filtration and by the mentioned cleaning process a significantly better flux recovery can be achieved. The amount of the catalyst and the irradiation time are limiting factors to the effectiveness of the cleaning process. The UV irradiation increases the wettability of the fouled membrane surface by degrading the oil layer. The coating, the continuous use, and the cleaning process do not significantly affect the membrane retention expressed in chemical oxygen demand.

Treatment of waste thermal waters by ozonation and nanofiltration.

After their use for heating, e.g. in greenhouses, waste thermal waters may cause environmental problems due to their high contents of ions, and in some cases organic matter (associated with an oxygen demand) or toxic compounds. The aims of this work were to decrease the high organic content of waste thermal water by a combination of ozone treatment and membrane separation, and to investigate the accompanying membrane fouling. The results demonstrated that the chemical oxygen demand and the total organic content can be effectively decreased by a combination of ozone pretreatment and membrane filtration. Ozone treatment is more effective for phenol elimination than nanofiltration alone: with a combination of the two processes, 100% elimination efficiency can be achieved. The fouling index b proved to correlate well with the fouling and polarization layer resistances.