Soloman, P.A. and Basha, C.A. and Velan, M. and Balasubramanian, N. (2009) Electrochemical degradation of pulp and paper industry waste-water. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 87 (9). pp. 1303-1313.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Conventional biological waste-water treatment techniques are insufficient to degrade large quantities of dissolved lignin discharged by small-scale paper mills. The current investigation is aimed at comparing the overall performance of basic electrochemical reactor configurations such as batch, batch recirculation, recycle and single pass systems, in removing the organic part of waste-water from a small-scale, agro-based paper industry. The effect of current density, supporting electrolyte concentration, duration of electrolysis, specific electrode surface and fluid flow rate on the removal of pollutants and energy consumption are critically evaluated. The improvement in biodegradability of the effluent during treatment is also noticed. RESULTS: The batch recirculation mode of operation was found to be superior in comparison with a batch system using the same specific electrode surface for both COD removal (73.3 vs. 64%) and capacity utilization (rate constant 1.112 × 10−3 vs. 1.049×10−3 cms−1). Thepollutant removalperformance of thebatch recirculation system improved considerablywith increase in the circulation flow rate. At the best operating point in the recycle system, 59% of COD was removed, corresponding to a current efficiency of 68.9% and specific energy consumption of 18.46 kWh kg−1. The biodegradability index of thewaste-water was improved from 0.18 ± 0.01 to 0.36 ± 0.01. CONCLUSION: A recycle reactor was the best configuration, because of its flexibility of operation. Circulation flow rate and withdrawal flow rate enable the control of transfer coefficients and treatment duration respectively. Electrochemical treatment not only removes the bulk of the organicmatter, but alsomakes the remaining pollutantsmore easily biodegradable.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	electrochemical degradation; pulp and paper waste-water; COD removal; batch recirculation; recycle
Subjects:	Pollution Control
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	TTBD CECRI
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2012 11:44
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2012 11:44
URI:	http://cecri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/425

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