Treatment of a waste oil-in-water emulsion from a copper-rolling process by ultrafiltration and vacuum evaporation.
A process is proposed for the treatment of a waste oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion generated in an industrial copper-rolling operation. The use of demulsifier agents improves the subsequent treatment by techniques such as ultrafiltration (UF) or evaporation. The effluent COD is reduced up to 50% when the O/W emulsion is treated by UF using a flat 30 nm TiO(2) ceramic membrane (ΔP = 0.1 MPa) and up to 70% when it is treated by vacuum evaporation, after an emulsion destabilization pretreatment in both cases. Increases in the UF permeate flux and in the evaporation rate are observed when a chemical demulsifier is used in the pretreatment step. A combined process consisting of destabilization/settling, UF, and vacuum evaporation can yield a very high-quality aqueous effluent that could be used for process cooling or emulsion reformulation.
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
Gemma
G
Gutiérrez
Alberto
A
Lobo
José M
JM
Benito
José
J
Coca
Carmen
C
Pazos
D002498:Centrifugation; D002516:Ceramics; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D004655:Emulsions; D009821:Oils; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D014462:Ultrafiltration; D014618:Vacuum; D014867:Water
D004655:Emulsions; D009821:Oils; D014867:Water; C009495:titanium dioxide; D003300:Copper; D014025:Titanium