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Depth treatment of coal-chemical engineering wastewater by a cost-effective sequential heterogeneous Fenton and biodegradation process

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Abstract

In this study, a sequential Fe0/H2O2 reaction and biological process was employed as a low-cost depth treatment method to remove recalcitrant compounds from coal-chemical engineering wastewater after regular biological treatment. First of all, a chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal efficiency of 66 and 63% was achieved at initial pH of 6.8, 25 mmol L−1 of H2O2, and 2 g L−1 of Fe0 in the Fe0/H2O2 reaction. According to the gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) analysis, the recalcitrant compounds were effectively decomposed into short-chain organic acids such as acetic, propionic, and butyric acids. Although these acids were resistant to the Fe0/H2O2 reaction, they were effectively eliminated in the sequential air lift reactor (ALR) at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 h, resulting in a further decrease of COD and color from 120 to 51 mg L−1 and from 70 to 38 times, respectively. A low operational cost of 0.35 $ m−3 was achieved because pH adjustment and iron-containing sludge disposal could be avoided since a total COD and color removal efficiency of 85 and 79% could be achieved at an original pH of 6.8 by the above sequential process with a ferric ion concentration below 0.8 mg L−1 after the Fe0/H2O2 reaction. It indicated that the above sequential process is a promising and cost-effective method for the depth treatment of coal-chemical engineering wastewaters to satisfy discharge requirements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41571302), the National Science and Technology Support Program Project Sub-project (2014BAC10B01-3), the Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (2016A010103002), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2017ZD025), the Water Resource Science and Technology Innovation Program of Guangdong Province (2016-26), and the State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering (201627).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yili Fang, Ping Li & Jinhua Wu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yili Fang, Ping Li & Jinhua Wu

  3. The Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection and Eco-Remediation of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yili Fang, Ping Li & Jinhua Wu

  4. School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yili Fang, Ping Li & Jinhua Wu

  5. School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, People’s Republic of China

    Weizhao Yin

  6. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, People’s Republic of China

    Yanbin Jiang

  7. School of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, People’s Republic of China

    Hengjun Ge

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  1. Yili Fang
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  2. Weizhao Yin
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Correspondence to Jinhua Wu.

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Fang, Y., Yin, W., Jiang, Y. et al. Depth treatment of coal-chemical engineering wastewater by a cost-effective sequential heterogeneous Fenton and biodegradation process. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 13118–13126 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1571-8

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