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Removal of Total Dissolved Solids in Spent Caustic Using Biochar: Pretreatment for Subsequent Biological Treatment
Author(s) -
Oh SeokYoung,
Shin DongSik
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201300784
Subject(s) - biochar , total dissolved solids , caustic (mathematics) , sorbent , chemistry , chemical oxygen demand , pulp and paper industry , total suspended solids , activated carbon , waste management , wastewater , environmental chemistry , environmental science , adsorption , pyrolysis , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , physics , engineering , mathematical physics
Biological oxidative treatment of spent caustic, a liquid waste generated from a refinery plant, is limited due to high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS). In this study, we investigated the possibility of using biochar as a sorbent to remove TDS in spent caustic to enhance the subsequent biological treatment. Compared to inefficient removal of TDS with granular activated carbon, biochar can effectively remove TDS from spent caustic, resulting in up to 65% removal of TDS as biochar dosage was increased in batch reactors. With 51.8 min of retention time, 59% of TDS was removed in a column reactor. After TDS removal, chemical oxygen demand removal in biological reactors was markedly enhanced. Our results suggest that biochar may have potential as a sorbent to remove TDS from spent caustic before biological treatment.