Aquatic environment

Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols from coking wastewater by simultaneously synthesized organobentonite in a one-step process


Zhenhua Wu , Lizhong Zhu

DOI:10.1016/S1001-0742(11)60780-8

Received April 18, 2011,Revised July 07, 2011, Accepted , Available online February 10, 2012

Volume 24,2012,Pages 248-253

The optimal condition for a one-step process removing organic compounds from coking wastewater by simultaneously synthesized organobentonite as a pretreatment was investigated. Results showed that sorption of organic compounds by organobentonite was positively correlated to the cation surfactant exchange on the bentonite and the octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow) of the solutes. With 0.75 g/L bentonite and 180 mg/L (60% of bentonite cation exchange capacity) cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, the removal efficiencies of the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) specified by the US Environmental Protection Agency in coking wastewater except naphthalene were more than 90%, and that of benzo(a)pyrene was 99.5%. At the same time, the removal efficiencies of CODCr, NH3-N, volatile phenols, colour and turbidity were 28.6%, 13.2%, 8.9%, 55% and 84.3%, respectively, and the ratio of BOD5/CODCr increased from 0.31 to 0.41. These results indicated that the one-step process had high removal efficiency for toxic and refractory hydrophobic organic compounds, and could improve the biodegradability of the coking wastewater. Therefore it could be a promising technology for the pretreatment of toxic and refractory organic wastewater.

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