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Combining activated sludge process with membrane separation to obtain recyclable quality water from paper mill effluent

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Abstract

The present study was carried out for the treatment of paper mill effluent using combination of activated sludge process and membrane separation. An integrated paper mill employing OCEOPHH sequence (oxidation, chlorination, alkali extraction re-enforced by oxygen and peroxide, hypo-1, and hypo-2) for the bleaching of hardwood pulp was selected for the study. The purpose of this work was to examine the water quality and membrane performance when combining activated sludge process with different membrane separation processes in series. Pollutant removal including adsorbable organic halides (AOX) was compared among different treatment combinations; (i) ASP + microfiltration (MF), (ii) ASP +MF + ultrafiltration (UF), (iii) ASP +MF + UF + nanofiltration (NF), and (iv) ASP +MF + UF + NF + reverse osmosis (RO) to select the optimal treatment scheme for water recycling in the paper mill. Different initial inlet pressures were used for the UF and NF (6.8, 10.3, and 13.7 bar) and for RO (10.3, 13.7, and 17.2) The retentate from each membrane was recycled back to the feed and retreated until the inlet pressure increased to the maximum cut-off pressure for each membrane. After separation, 100 % total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, color removal and 94.2 % chemical oxygen demand, and 86 % AOX removal was observed. This study suggests the potential application of the combination of membrane separation with activated sludge process for recycling water in the paper industry.

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Acknowledgments

Sudheer Kumar Shukla was supported by the Yonsei University Research Fund of 2014. Van Doan, Kim and Park were supported by NRF-2013R1A2A03016475 (Biological production of combustion propellant N2O from high N-loading wastewater and its microbial ecological metabolism engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749, Republic of Korea

    Sudheer Kumar Shukla, Tuan Van Doan, Keunje Yoo, Younkyung Kim & Joonhong Park

  2. Department of Paper Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247001, India

    Vivek Kumar

Authors
  1. Sudheer Kumar Shukla
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  2. Vivek Kumar
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  3. Tuan Van Doan
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  4. Keunje Yoo
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  5. Younkyung Kim
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  6. Joonhong Park
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Correspondence to Sudheer Kumar Shukla or Joonhong Park.

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Shukla, S.K., Kumar, V., Van Doan, T. et al. Combining activated sludge process with membrane separation to obtain recyclable quality water from paper mill effluent. Clean Techn Environ Policy 17, 781–788 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0836-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0836-2

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