Bárbara C. Ricci

Pilot aerobic membrane bioreactor and nanofiltration for municipal landfill leachate treatment

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to evaluate the integration of the air stripping, membrane bioreactor (MBR) and nanofiltration (NF) processes for the treatment of landfill leachate (LFL). Pretreatment by air stripping, without adjustment of pH, removed 65% of N-NH3 present in LFL. After pretreatment, the effluent was treated in MBR obtaining 44% of COD removal, and part of the N-NH3 was converted to nitrite and nitrate, which was later removed in the post-treatment. Nanofiltration was shown to be an effective process to improve the removal of organic compounds, the high toxicity present in LFL and nitrite and nitrate generated in the MBR. The system (air stripping + MBR + nanofiltration) obtained great efficiency of removal in most parameters analyzed, with overall removal of COD, ammonia, color and toxicity approximately 88, 95, 100 and 100%, respectively. By this route, treated landfill leachate may be reused at the landfill as water for dust arrestment and also as earth work on construction sites.

The application of filterability as a parameter to evaluate the biological sludge quality in an MBR treating refinery effluent

AbstractMembrane bioreactors (MBR) have been extensively employed at industrial effluent treatment plants; however the membrane fouling has restrained its more extensive application. Filterability is an important parameter to evaluate sludge properties and the potentiality of membrane fouling in MBR, nevertheless the lack of standardization of its assessment method has made it difficult to understand its actual role on MBR performance and compare its results. In this context, this work aims to compare three filterability assessment methods described in the literature (TTF, FT, and SFI) regarding its capability to sense sludge quality variation and reproducibility, and evaluate the application of this parameter as a tool to monitor and control fouling in MBR treating petroleum refinery effluents. This study showed that, among the methods evaluated, time to filter was the most effective to assess the filterability, both in terms of its capability to sense sludge quality variation and reproducibility. The re...

Assessment of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis potentialities to recover metals, sulfuric acid, and recycled water from acid gold mining effluent

This work assessed the potential of nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) to treat acid streams contaminated with metals, such as effluent from the pressure oxidation process (POX) used in refractory gold ore processing. NF and RO were evaluated in terms of rejections of sulfuric acid and metals. Regarding NF, high sulfuric acid permeation (∼100%), was observed, while metals were retained with high efficiencies (∼90%), whereas RO led to high acid rejections (<88%) when conducted in pH values higher than 1. Thus, sequential use of NF and RO was proved to be a promising treatment for sulfuric acid solutions contaminated by metals, such as POX effluent. In this context, a purified acid stream could be recovered in NF permeate, which could be further concentrated in RO. Recovered acid stream could be reused in the gold ore processing or commercialized. A metal-enriched stream could be also recovered in NF retentate and transferred to a subsequent metal recovery stage. In addition, considering the high acid rejection obtained through the proposed system, RO permeate could be used as recycling water.

Removal of organic matter of electrodialysis reversal brine from a petroleum refinery wastewater reclamation plant by UV and UV/H202 process

ABSTRACT Direct (UV) and hydrogen peroxide-assisted (UV/H2O2) photolysis were investigated in bench-scale for removing the organic compounds present in the electrodialysis reversal (EDR) brine from a refinery wastewater reclamation plant. In the UV/H2O2 experiments, a COD:H2O2 molar ratios of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 were tested by recirculating the brine in the UV reactor for 120 min. Results showed a significant reduction in UVA254, whereas no reduction was observed for chemical oxygen demand (COD), in the UV process, suggesting great cleavage but limited mineralization of the organic matter. UV/H2O2 with C:H2O2 ratio of 1:3 exhibited high efficiency in removing the organic matter (COD removal of 92% with an electrical energy per removal order (EEO) value of 22 kW h m−3). Although the EDR brine has high salinity, no strong scavenging effect of •OH was found in the water matrix due to the high concentration of anions, especially chloride and bicarbonate. Finally, UV/H2O2 with C:H2O2 ratio of 1:3 and residence time of 120 min is an efficient alternative for organic matter removal of EDR brine from refinery wastewater reclamation plant showing total capital cost (CapEx) estimated at US

Sugarcane vinasse treatment by two-stage anaerobic membrane bioreactor: Effect of hydraulic retention time on changes in efficiency, biogas production and membrane fouling

369,653.00 and total operational cost (OpEx), at US

Integration of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis for metal separation and sulfuric acid recovery from gold mining effluent

1.772 per cubic meter of effluent.

Gold acid mine drainage treatment by membrane separation processes: An evaluation of the main operational conditions

This research investigated the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on two-stage anaerobic membrane bioreactor (2-SAnMBR) performance treating sugarcane vinasse. The experimental setup consisted of an upflow acidogenic reactor and a continuous stirred methanogenic reactor, fitted with submersed microfiltration hollow-fiber membranes. The results indicated excellent performance and robustness of 2-SAnMBR. The reduction in HRT of 5.3-3.1days did not cause loss of its performance. The 2-SAnMBR showed high capacity of removing organic matter (97%), producing biogas (6.3Nm3 of CH4 per m3 of treated vinasse) and did not completely remove important nutrients to fertigation. Reducing the HRT, the average mass of soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) per mass of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) increased. Consequently, the transmembrane pressure (TPM) rate and fouling resistance rise. Despite the fouling effect, physical and chemical cleaning processes were able to recover operational permeability.