Performances of Reverse Osmosis Membranes for Treatment of Olive Mill Wastewater

In the following study, two methods were employed in which olive mill wastewaters were treated by using reverse osmosis membranes (BW30 and XLE). In the first, wastewater was centrifuged and then passed through the reverse osmosis whereas in the second, an ultrafiltration was placed between the centrifuge and the reverse osmosis. The reverse osmosis experiments were conducted under 10, 15, 20, and 25 bar. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies under 25 bar were found to be 97.5% for both BW30 and XLE membranes. The highest conductivity removal rates obtained under 25 bar for BW30 and XLE membranes were found to be 95.6 and 96.2%, respectively. As for the highest permeation flux values obtained under 25 bar, they were separately determined for BW30 and XLE as 15.3 and 21.2 L m^?2 h^?1, respectively. The performances of the membranes were also evaluated in terms of their mass transfer coefficients. According to this, all mass transfer coefficients were found to be <1 and also in proximate to one another; this clearly reflects the results as COD and conductivity removals were approximate and there was a lack of any significant difference, whether ultrafiltration was applied or not.     

SGBR Performance on the Basis of Color and COD Removal from Textile Wastewater

This study focused on removal of color and chemical oxygen demand (COD) parameter from textile effluents using a static granular bed reactor (SGBR), which has never been used to treat textile effluents previously. With an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1 kg/m³ day and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 48 h, COD and color removal efficiencies were 74 and 61%, respectively, while the removal efficiencies were 72 and 57%, respectively, with OLR of 1.7 kg/(m³ day) and HRT of 24 h. It was concluded that the SGBR could be used as an alternative method to treat and decolorize textile effluents. First order and modified Stover–Kincannon models were used to develop a kinetic model using the experimental data with correlation coefficients (R²) of 0.39 and 0.94, respectively. In regard with the calculated correlation coefficients, modified Stover–Kincannon model, which was used to model anerobic biofilters in previous studies, fitted best with the experimental data and it was stated that SGBR worked as an anerobic biofilter.     

Operational Cost Comparison of Several Pre‐Treatment Techniques for OMW Treatment

Olive mill wastewaters (OMWs), which are known to have deep impacts on the receiving water bodies due to their high‐strength contents of organic materials and color, must be treated before discharge. For this reason; a number of research studies have been available in current literature related to the treatment of OMWs. However, no widely accepted treatment alternatives have been proposed yet. The common results of these studies suggest that OMWs must be pretreated prior to final purification processes. This study focuses on the comparison of alternative pre‐treatment processes in the aspect of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and costs of operation. Centrifuging, lime precipitation, acid cracking, and electrocoagulation processes were performed to compare removal efficiencies and operational costs. The COD removal efficiencies for centrifuging, lime precipitation, acid cracking, and electrocoagulation processes were determined to be 30.1, 24.1, 20.0, 53.7%, respectively, with operational costs being $0.30, $0.37, $1.42, and $11.60 per cubic meter of wastewater treated, respectively. The centrifuging process was concluded to be the most appropriate one according to the COD removal efficiency and cost of operation.