I'm not sure the steps to treat wastewater containing mixture of alcohol solvent, oils and glycerol. do we neet to separate before further treatment.
Hi,
Oil can be separated directly via decantation. However, alcohols including glycerols are soluble in water. Hence, you could try mass transfer operations such as azeotropic distillation, given that you know the type of alcohol impurity present in the mixture. Glycerol being alcohol will also be removed during the process.
Dear Mashitah, it depends on your aim of treatment. Do you wish
- to recover the pollutants for some further use,
- or just to eliminate them from the water?
In the latter case you do not need to extract these substances from the wastewater, since all of them are biodegradable.
There are so many methods. You need to clarify your exact aim and facilities you have in your lab. Write in details please.
Dear Mashitah,
I agree with RJ Robert that free oil shall be removed first by floatation (light oil) or decantation (heavy oil) and that the alcohols and glycols are soluble in water.
These water soluble organics are fully biodegradable by high-rate anaerobic digestion (HRAD) as proven in full industrial scale HRAD plants worldwide since decades. HRAD converts the soluble organics to biomethane at up to 99% efficiency. This biomethane can then replace fossil fuel to produce heat (e.g. steam) and/or electrical power while reducing CO2 emissions.
If interested I would be happy to provide you more information via email.
Study production of biogas. It can produce biogas from waste waters of Palm Oil Mill.
Seemingly this RG discussion may possibly help: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_easiest_quickest_and_cheapest_method_to_separate_water_from_dilute_glycerol_solution
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