The performance of a fixed-bed treatment system packed with layered textiles for their filtration/adsorption potential for salt and organic pollutant

Abstract

The main contribution of the research work presented here was to select and investigate a few commercially available textiles to study their filtration/adsorption potential for salt and total organic carbon (TOC) reduction during wastewater treatment. First, several physical–mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, thickness, weight, density and structural aspect of two woven (polyamide and polyester) and two nonwoven (polypropylene [PP] and PP/polyethylene [PE]) textiles, were determined. Also, the void amount and total void area percentage of textiles were measured, which influence the wastewater flow (clog) and filtration efficiency. With the intention of examining the adsorption ability of the selected textiles, kinetic experiments were carried out in shake-flasks using three commonly-used salts. Afterwards, small-scale column experiments were conducted in a continuous-flow operation to assess the TOC and salt reduction. It was found that both nonwoven textiles (either made from PP or from bicomponent PP/PE) with the more complex structures and a higher total void area were more suitable for the removal of salt and TOC in comparison to the efficiency of a column packed with sand/woven fabrics, regarding the type and concentration of salt as well as the contact time.

Keywords:

• Compact textiles
• Fixed-bed system
• Salt reduction
• TOC reduction
• Ecology

Acknowledgement

This basic research was sponsored by the Slovenian Research Agency, Project No. Z2-2064.

Notes

Presented at the International Conference on Desalination for the Environment, Clean Water and Energy, European Desalination Society, 23–26 April 2012, Barcelona, Spain