Effect of Chemical Coagulation Pretreatment on Anaerobic Digestion of Tannery Wastewater
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
Tanning factory is globally considered to be one of the most resource consuming and pollutants producing industries because it requires, for processing leather, large amounts of fresh water, chemical reagents, and energy, and in addition produces wastes, liquid as well solid, rich in organic matter and heavy metals (e.g., chromium). Such characteristics of tannery wastes make their biological treatment promising as well as challenging. This study deals with the effect of coagulation process as a pretreatment method on real tannery wastewater prior to anaerobic digestion (AD), with the aim of removing chromium and thus limiting its inhibitory effect on biological process. Different concentrations (100, 200, 400, 600, 800, and ) of the coagulant were tested, at pH 7.5, with an initial total chromium concentration of . The efficiency of metal removal was in the range of 0.44–29.38%. Simultaneously, the chemical oxygen demand was reduced by 0.86–28.80%, with the detrimental effect of lowering the total biogas production potential from tannery wastewater. Nevertheless, coagulation pretreatment enhanced the AD process of tannery wastewater, resulting in an increase of the cumulative biogas production by 10% and in a reduction of the digestion time by approximately 25%, in comparison with untreated wastewater. After 37 days of incubation, the maximum specific cumulated volume of biogas produced from the wastewater pretreated with of was total volatile solids added with approximately 84% of methane.
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Acknowledgments
This research has been conducted in the framework of the International Project of Scientific and Technological Cooperation 2016–2018 AL16MO02 promoted by the Ministries of Foreign Affair of Algeria and Italy. The authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. Michele De Maio and Dr. Gaetano Maffei of the DMD spa Factory in Solofra and Dr. Giampiero Cesaro of the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant of Nola.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 25, 2016
Accepted: Jan 19, 2017
Published online: Apr 12, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 12, 2017
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