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Optimization modeling and mechanism discussion on specific industrial coal-washing wastewater treatment

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Abstract

Coal-washing wastewater is the residual produced by the coal industry, which may represent a high risk of serious environmental problems worldwide. However, prevailing coal-washing treatment processes are hardly ideal for achieving the goal of solid–liquid separation due to the wastewater’s extremely stable physicochemical properties. This research treats the coal-washing wastewater produced by a plant in Northeast China by means of the coagulation–flocculation process. The sedimentation ability of different coagulant choices and flocculant dosages is tested and analyzed through pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics. Scanning transmission electron microscopy is used to account for the settlement mechanism of flocs, which not only explains the characterized effect of coagulants and the flocculant but also demonstrates the advantage of using combined coagulates. Using the three-dimensional response surface method, an optimized treatment condition of 1.20 g m(FeCl3): m(CaO) = 1:3 mixed coagulants + 2.00 mL 0.13% polyacrylamide flocculant is proposed for 100 mL of selected wastewater. Additionally, the relationships between the optimal treatment conditions and the properties of wastewater obtained from X-ray energy-dispersive analysis are determined for future practical optimization needs.

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Acknowledgements

This authors thank Professor Wang for the useful guidance and suggestions throughout this research. We also acknowledge the State Key Laboratory for the experiment platform and financial support.

Funding

This research was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (Ocean Carbon Group) at Xiamen University. Author Deli Wang has received research support from Xiamen University. The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support was received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Y. Pan, D. Wang & K. Mei

  2. College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Y. Pan, D. Wang & K. Mei

  3. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    T. Tang

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  1. Y. Pan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. The experimental design, material preparation, and background research were performed by YP, DW, and TT; data collection and analysis were conducted by YP and KM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YP, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Y. Pan.

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Editorial responsibility: Samareh Mirkia.

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Pan, Y., Wang, D., Mei, K. et al. Optimization modeling and mechanism discussion on specific industrial coal-washing wastewater treatment. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 11195–11206 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04738-z

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