Open AccessRemoval of Monoethanolamine from Wastewater by Composite Reverse Osmosis Membrane
Author(s) -
Azry Borhan,
Muhammad Muhibbudin Mat Johari
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
jurnal teknologi/jurnal teknologi
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.191
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2180-3722
pISSN - 0127-9696
DOI - 10.11113/jt.v68.3031
Subject(s) - wastewater , reverse osmosis , thin film composite membrane , chemistry , membrane , effluent , amine gas treating , pulp and paper industry , chromatography , forward osmosis , chemical oxygen demand , chemical engineering , environmental engineering , environmental science , organic chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Monoethanolamine (MEA) has been vastly used for the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) in natural gas processing plant. However, during the absorption-desorption process and maintenance activities, a small amount of amine get carries over and discharged into the effluent wastewater stream. Due to its high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and require large volume of water for dilution, therefore treatment of MEA contaminated wastewater is a major concern in most amine sweetening plants. In this research, MEA wastewater generated from PETRONAS Fertilizer Kedah Sdn. Bhd (PFK) was treated via AFC99 tubular thin film composite polyamide Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane. The effect of operating parameter (transmembrane pressure (TMP), feed concentration and pH) towards permeate flux and MEA rejection were studied to obtain the optimum operating conditions. Experimental results showed that AFC99 membrane is able to reject MEA up to 98% when operated at TMP of 20 bars, feed concentration of 300 ppm and pH of 4. This work shows that the RO membrane was feasible and desirable to be used for removal of MEA contaminants from wastewater. Besides, the treated water fulfills the watering standards.