Mourad Ben Sik Ali

Iron removal from brackish water by electrodialysis

The aim of this work is to study the removal of iron from brackish water using electrodialysis (ED). Experiments were carried out on synthetic brackish water solutions using a laboratory-scale ED cell. The influence of several parameters on process efficiency was studied. This efficiency is expressed by the removal rate, transport flux, current efficiency and power consumption. The applied voltage, the feed flow rate, the pH and iron initial concentration of the feed solution have a significant effect on the process efficiency and mainly on the iron transfer from dilute to concentrate compartment. Nevertheless, feed ionic strength does not have an effect on the iron removal. However, the effect is only noted on the specific power consumption.

Removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution by polyacrylic acid enhanced ultrafiltration

AbstractOne of the recently developed water treatment processes is the polyelectrolyte-enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF). This technique combines a membrane filtration process (ultratfiltration) and a cation–polyectrolyte complexation technique. PEUF is shown to be an efficient technology for the removal of heavy metals from liquid effluents even at low concentrations. In this proposal, the removal of three heavy metals (cadmium, copper and zinc) from aqueous solutions by PEUF process was investigated. The poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) with an average molecular weight 100 kDa was used as complexing agent. The ultrafiltration experiments were performed using a tangential cell system equipped with a polyethersulphone membrane having a 10.000 molecular weight cut-off (MWCO). To improve the retention of the heavy metal ions, the effect of some operating parameters and solution characteristics were studied. For different PAA concentrations, this study showed that all permeate fluxes increased linearly by increasing t...

Denitrification of brackish water by electrodialysis: Effect of process parameters and water characteristics

The aim of this work is to study the removal of nitrate from brackish polluted water using electrodialysis. The influence of several parameters, such as flow rates, initial feed concentration, co-existing anions and initial pH on process efficiency were studied. This efficiency is evaluated by the removal rate, demineralization rate and power consumption. The denitrification process showed to be independent of pH of feed solution. Although The flow rate as well as the initial salt concentration and also the coexisting anions on the feed solution play a significant role on the denitrification efficiency and mainly on the specific power consumption. The decrease of this parameter induces a decrease on the total energy needed to perform required operation. The denitrification of a contaminated real water sample was investigated so as to improve the efficiency of denitrification process. The nitrate concentration could be reduced from 225 to 25.5 mg L−1 (88% removal) which was lower than World Health Organization (WHO) standard (50 mg L−1). Moreover the concentrations of different species in the obtained treated water are below the amounts recommended by WHO for drinking water.

Electrodialytic Removal of Cadmium from Brackish Water: Effects of Operating Parameters

The continuous increase of environmental regulations make interesting to find effective and efficient methods for processing effluents containing metal ions. This research focuses on cadmium removal from brackish water by an electro-membrane process: The electrodialysis. Experiments were carried out on synthetic brackish water solutions and using a laboratory scale electrodialysis system. The influence of several parameters on process efficiency was investigated. The efficiency of this process was assessed by the determination of five parameters: The demineralization rate, the removal rate and the transport flux of cadmium, the current efficiency and the specific power consumption. The applied voltage, the feed flow rate, the pH and cadmium initial concentration of the feed solution have a significant effect on the process efficiency and mainly on the cadmium transfer from dilute to concentrate compartment. In contrast, feed ionic strength seems to affect only the SPC and not the R(Cd).