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MEMBRANE SEPARATIONS | Ultrafiltration
Abstract
Ultrafiltration (UF) uses a semipermeable membrane to fractionate molecules in liquids of about 1000 daltons in molecular weight to 500 000 daltons. The membrane is made of either polymeric or inorganic materials and contains pores of a defined size distribution. UF is a simple process involving only the pumping of fluids.
... However, these processes, which are complementary to biological methods have some shortcomings. Membrane processes are difficult to operate due to membrane fouling, which leads to the high operation costs, and the highly polluted concentrate must be treated again [11] . Coagulation-flocculation requires a large amount of chemicals, which can be environmentally hazardous. ...
The performance of a two-stage process combining anaerobic digestion (AD) and electrocoagulation (EC) was studied for the treatment of slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW). Anaerobic digestion was used as primary treatment, whereas electrocoagulation process was used as secondary treatment. After anaerobic digestion, the optimal current density and the treatment time for Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and P-PO43− removal by electrocoagulation using Fe and Al electrodes were determined. These optimal conditions were finally used for the secondary treatment of slaughterhouse wastewater by electrocoagulation. The primary treatment by anaerobic digestion removed of 49.93 ± 0.37% COD. However, this led to an increase in residual concentration of P-PO43−. The optimal conditions for COD and P-PO43− removal by electrocoagulation were obtained with a current density of 18.18 mA/cm² and a treatment time of 40 min for both types of electrodes. The secondary treatment by electrocoagulation respectively resulted from a total removal of 79.73±0.75% and 80.12±0.85% COD, 95.90±0.03% and 95.42±0.11% NO3−, and 92.48±0.20% and 90.66±0.36% of turbidity, respectively, with Fe and Al electrodes. This study reveals the complementarity of anaerobic digestion and electrocoagulation could be the basis of a process able to simultaneously remove organic and inorganic pollutants for various applications (municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, etc.).
