Heavy Metal Removal by Coagulation with Seawater Liquid Bittern
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 127, Issue 3
Abstract
Soluble heavy metals present in water could be deleterious to health, and as a result, their discharge into surface waters has been regulated internationally. Many processes for the removal of heavy metals from water and wastewater have been investigated. Coagulation and precipitation are the processes that have been reported to be most effective in the removal of heavy metals. In this study, seawater liquid bittern (LB), as an inexpensive source of magnesium, added to wastewater alkalized with lime or caustic soda is investigated as a possible coagulant. The experiments covered tests on eight metals: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc. The lime-LB process culminated in high removals (>90%) for cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and zinc and reasonably good removals (71, 82, and 75%) for arsenic, copper, and nickel, respectively. These results were superior to those obtained using the caustic-soda–LB process. The concurrent presence of different metals in solution has been shown to have a minor effect on removal efficiencies for most metals. However, in the case of nickel, removal was appreciably increased by 18.5%. Also, higher concentrations of a single metal showed higher removal efficiencies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Abdallah, R. I. ( 1996). “Seawater: A source of magnesium for wastewater treatment.” ME thesis, Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg., American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
2.
Abou-Rizaiza, O. S. ( 1999). “Modification of the standards of wastewater reuse in Saudi Arabia.” Water Res., 33(11), 2601–2608.
3.
American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Envrionment Federation (WEF). ( 1995). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 19th Ed., Washington, D.C.
4.
Ayoub, G. M., and Koopman, B. ( 1986). “Algal separation by the lime-seawater process.” J. Water Pollution Control Fedn., 58, 924–931.
5.
Ayoub, G. M., Lee, S.-I., Mazidji, C. N., Seo, I.-S., Cho, H.-M., and Koopman, B. ( 1992). “Seawater flocculation of emulsified oil and alkaline wastewaters.” Water Res., 26, 817–823.
6.
Ayoub, G. M., Merhebi, F., Abdallah, R., Acra, A., and El-Fadel, M. ( 1999). “Coagulation of alkalinized municipal wastewater using seawater bittern.” Water Envir. Res., 71, 443–453.
7.
Ayoub, G. M., Merhebi, F., Acra, A., El Fadel, M., and Koopman, B. ( 2000). “Seawater bittern for the treatment of alkalized industrial effluents.” Water Res., 34, 640–656.
8.
Benjamin, M., Sletten, R., Bailey, R., and Bennett, T. ( 1996). “Sorption and filtration of metals using iron-oxide-coated sand.” Water Res., 30, 2609–2620.
9.
Booker, N. A., Cooney, E. L., and Preistly, A. J. ( 1996). “Innovative physico-chemical wastewater treatment research down-under.” Chemical water and wastewater treatment IV, H. Hahn, E. Hoffman, and H. ∅degaard eds., Springer, New York.
10.
Brown, M. J., and Lester, J. N. ( 1979). “Metal removal in activated sludge: The role of bacterial extracellular.” Water Res., 13, 817–837.
11.
Casey, T. J. ( 1997). Unit treatment processes in water and wastewater engineering, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
12.
Chen, K., and Hendricks, T. ( 1974). “Trace metals on suspended particulates.” 〈http://www.sccwrp.org/pubs/annrpt/1974〉.
13.
Edwards, M., and Benjamin, M. M. ( 1989). “Adsorptive filtration using coated sand: A new approach for the treatment of metal-bearing wastes.” J. Water Pollution Control Fedn., 61, 1523–1533.
14.
Elmaleh, S., Yahi, H., and Coma, J. ( 1996). “Suspended solids abatement by pH increase: Upgrading of an oxidation pond effluent.” Water Res., 30, 2357–2362.
15.
Esmond, S. E., Petrasek, A. C., Wolf, H. W., and Andrews, D. C. ( 1980). “The removal of metals and viruses in advanced wastewater treatment sequences.” EPA 600/2-80-149, Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory, Cincinnati.
16.
Grabow, W. O. K., Middendorff, I. G., and Basson, N. C. ( 1978). “Role of lime treatment in the removal of bacteria, enteric viruses, and coliphages in a wastewater reclamation plant.” Appl. Envir. Microbiology, 35, 663–669.
17.
Harleman, D. R. I., and Morrissey, S. P. ( 1990). “Chemically-enhanced treatment: An alternative to biological secondary treatment for ocean outfalls.” Proc., Nat. Conf. on Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, New York, 14–19.
18.
Idelovitch, E. ( 1978). “Wastewater reuse by biological-chemical treatment and groundwater recharge.” J. Water Pollution Control Fedn., 50, 2723–2740.
19.
Kodokula, P. S., Patterson, J. W., and Surampalli, R. Y. ( 1994). “Sorption and precipitation of metals in activated sludge.” Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 43, 874–880.
20.
Lester, J. N. ( 1987). Heavy metals in wastewater and sludge treatment processes, Vol. 1, J. N. Lester, ed., CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.
21.
Maruyama, T., Hannah, S. A., and Cohen, J. M. ( 1974). “Removal of metals by physical and chemical treatment processes.” Nat. Envir. Res. Ctr., U.S. EPA, Cincinnati.
22.
The Merck index: An encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals. (1983). Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J.
23.
Morgan, J. J., and Stumm, W. ( 1991). “Chemical processes in the environment: Relevance of chemical speciation.” Metals and their compounds in the environment: Occurrence, analysis, and biological relevance, E. Merian, ed., VCH, New York.
24.
∅degaard, H. ( 1987). “Particle separation in wastewater treatment.” Proc., 7th EWPCA Symp., 351–400.
25.
∅degaard, H. ( 1989). “Appropriate technology for wastewater treatment in coastal tourist areas.” Water Sci. and Technol., 21, 1–17.
26.
∅degaard, H. ( 1992). “Norwegian experiences with chemical treatment of raw wastewater.” Water Sci. and Technol., 25, 255–264.
27.
∅degaard, H. ( 1995). “Optimization of flocculation/flotation in chemical wastewater treatment.” Water Sci. and Technol., 31, 73–82.
28.
Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water (OGDW). ( 1999). Arsenic in drinking water: Treatment technologies—Removal, U.S. EPA, Washington, D.C.
29.
Patterson, J. W., Kodukula, P. S., and Aratani, T. ( 1981). “Removal of metals in combined treatment systems.” Rep. to Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory, U.S. EPA, Washington, D.C.
30.
Patterson, J. W., Minear, R. A., Gasca, E., and Petropoulou, C. ( 1998). “Industrial discharges of metals to water.” Metals in surface waters, H. Allen, A. W. Garrison, and G. W. Luther, eds., Ann Arbor Press, Ann Arbor, Mich.
31.
Petrasek, A. C., and Kugelman, I. J. ( 1983). “Metals removals and partitioning in conventional wastewater treatment plants.” J. Water Pollution Control Fedn., 55, 1183–1189.
32.
Riehl, M. L., Weiser, H. H., and Rheins, R. T. ( 1952). “Effect of lime treated water upon survival of bacteria.” J. AWWA, 44, 466–471.
33.
Semerjian, L. A. ( 2000). “Heavy metal removal from alkalized wastewaters using seawater liquid bittern.” MS thesis, Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg., American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
34.
Shin, H. S., and Lee, S. M. ( 1997). “Removal of nutrients in wastewater by using magnesium salts.” Envir. Technol., London, 19, 283–290.
35.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). ( 1977). Federal guidelines on state and local pretreatment programs, Vol. 2, Washington, D.C.
36.
Van Nieuwenhuiyzen, A. F., Van der Graaf, J. H., and de Koning, J. ( 1999). “Physical-chemical pretreatment: Identification and evaluation of wastewater treatment scenarios.” Research at the Dept. of Sanitary Engrg., Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 〈http: //www.ct.tudelft.nl〉.
37.
Vräle, L. ( 1978). “Chemical precipitation of wastewater with lime and seawater.” Progress Water Technol., 10, 645–656.
38.
Wang, S., and Chen, K. Y. ( 1983). “Bitterns as coagulants for the treatment of color effluents.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Chemistry for the Protection of the Envir., 193–203.
39.
Water Environment Federation (WEF). ( 1994). Pretreatment of industrial wastes: Manual of practice FD-3, Alexandria, Va.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 127 • Issue 3 • March 2001
Pages: 196 - 207
History
Received: Apr 14, 2000
Published online: Mar 1, 2001
Published in print: Mar 2001
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.