Loading…

Olive mills wastewater treatment using mixed adsorbents of volcanic tuff, natural clay and charcoal

[Display omitted] •Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is still an unsolved environmental problem.•Volcanic tuff (VT) treated with nitric acid reduced COD & phenols of OMW by 14 & 21%.•VT treated with other chemicals did not show promising COD & phenols reductions.•Synergistic effects on COD &am...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental chemical engineering 2018-04, Vol.6 (2), p.2126-2136
Main Author: Azzam, Mohammed O.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:[Display omitted] •Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is still an unsolved environmental problem.•Volcanic tuff (VT) treated with nitric acid reduced COD & phenols of OMW by 14 & 21%.•VT treated with other chemicals did not show promising COD & phenols reductions.•Synergistic effects on COD & phenols were observed for mixtures of treated-VT, clay and charcoal. Olive mills wastewater (OMW) is considered an environmental hazard because of its high organic content (COD over 80–200 g/L), high phenols (more than 400 mg/L) and acidic pH (3 to 6). This study investigated employing simple natural locally available materials as adsorbents to decrease the levels of the above negative characteristics of OMW. Specifically, volcanic tuff (VT), natural clay and charcoal were investigated as possible adsorbents of OMW’s organic matter. The above possible adsorbents were treated employing different physical, thermal and/or chemical methods, and characterized using XRD, SEM, EDX and BET surface area analyses, and then utilized in adsorption experiments as single or mixed adsorbents. Synergistic effects on COD and phenols uptake were noticed when both treated clay and treated VT in addition to charcoal were employed in combinations. Reductions in COD and phenols concentrations reached 14% and 21% respectively. Based on the results of this work, the investigated VT along with its treatment protocols would not be recommended to be employed as a possible practical adsorbent in the treatment of OMW.
ISSN:2213-3437
2213-3437
DOI:10.1016/j.jece.2018.03.009