Wastewater characterization and treatability studies. Final technical report

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5141348

An experimental program was conducted to evaluate the wastewater treatment system designed for International Coal Refinery Company's proposed Solvent-Refined Coal Demonstration Plant. The system consists of primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment steps. Because actual waste-water was unavailable, samples from operating pilot units were characterized and a reasonable surrogate was selected. The primary pretreatment step, to remove gases, oil, and grease, was tested on the surrogate wastewater. H/sub 2/S and NH/sub 3/ were removed by degassing, and tar acids were precipitated by lowering the pH. The pretreated water was then fed to two parallel secondary biotreatment systems, which remove phenolics and nitrify reduced nitrogens. One system contained only biomass; the other also contained powdered activated carbon (PAC). The system with PAC performed better. Effluents from the system without PAC were used for tertiary screening tests, designed to treat the water so that it would be acceptable for surface water discharge or for a closed-loop (zero-discharge) system that includes a reverse osmosis step. The results show that the wastewater purified by this treatment system is of high quality and appears to be suitable for discharge. However, to determine whether the treated water is also suitable for closed-loop (zero-discharge) operation (particularly its potential for reverse osmosis membrane fouling) requires more work. Additional tests have been planned. 31 references, 53 figures, 78 tables.

• Research Organization: International Coal Refining Co., Allentown, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-78OR03054
• OSTI ID: 5141348
• Report Number(s): DOE/OR/03054-10; ON: DE84010810
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010405 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
010800* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Waste Management
ACTIVATED CARBON
ADSORBENTS
AMMONIA
BIODEGRADATION
BIOMASS
CARBON
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL LIQUEFACTION PLANTS
COAL TAR
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
DIFFUSION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVALUATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INFORMATION
LIQUID WASTES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OSMOSIS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PILOT PLANTS
PRECIPITATION
REMOVAL
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SRC PROCESS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TAR
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER TREATMENT