title: Treatment of the Bleaching Effluent from Sulfite Pulp Production by Ceramic Membrane Filtration.
abstract: Pulp and paper waste water is one of the major sources of industrial water pollution. This study tested the suitability of ceramic tubular membrane technology as an alternative to conventional waste water treatment in the pulp and paper industry. In this context, in series batch and semi-batch membrane processes comprising microfiltration, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration, ceramic membranes were developed to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and remove residual lignin from the effluent flow during sulfite pulp production. A comparison of the ceramic membranes in terms of separation efficiency and performance revealed that the two-stage process configuration with microfiltration followed by ultrafiltration was most suitable for the efficient treatment of the alkaline bleaching effluent tested herein, reducing the COD concentration and residual lignin levels by more than 35% and 70%, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Membrane Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany. mehrdad.ebrahimi@kmub.thm.de.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Membrane Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany. nadine.busse@kmub.thm.de.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Busse
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Membrane Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany. steffen.kerker@kmub.thm.de.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kerker
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Membrane Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany. Oliver.schmitz@kmub.thm.de.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.affiliation: Sappi Fine Paper Europe, 89584Ehingen, Germany. markus.hilpert@sappi.com.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hilpert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Membrane Technology, University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany. peter.czermak@kmub.thm.de.|Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. peter.czermak@kmub.thm.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Czermak
keywords: bleaching effluents; ceramic membrane; chemical oxygen demand removal; membrane fouling; permeate flux rate; waste water treatment