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Abstract
Treatment of alkaloid wastewater is a challenging task because of its complex mixture of contaminants with high chemical oxygen demand and sulfate concentrations. The aim of this study was to investigate the removal of sulfate from nanofitration (NF) concentrate of alkaloid wastewater by electrodialysis (ED). The effectiveness of ED process was evaluated using synthetic sodium sulfate solutions at three different concentrations (20, 30, and 40 g/L). The removal efficiencies ranged from 95 to 98% at all applied voltages (5–20 V). Energy consumption for 95% sulfate removal was linearly increasing with applied voltage. The influences of diluate and concentrate flow rates on sulfate removal were investigated at 20, 30, and 40 L/h. At least 95% of deionization efficiencies were achieved at all flow rates. The performance of three different NF membranes (NF270, NF90, and NF245) was investigated in order to remove sulfate from biologically treated alkaloid wastewater. Ninety-nine percent of sulfate retained in membrane concentrate in NF90 and NF245 membranes. Finally, the sulfate removal efficiencies from NF concentrate were determined by ED process. Up to 98% of deionization efficiencies were achieved. However, both ED time to teach 95% efficiency and the energy consumptions for the same degree of treatment were much greater that those obtained using synthetic wastewater.