Non-thermal plasma treatment of Radix aconiti wastewater generated by traditional Chinese medicine processing.
The wastewater effluent from Radix aconiti processing, an important step in the production processes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is a type of toxic wastewater and difficult to treat. Plasma oxidation methods have emerged as feasible techniques for effective decomposition of toxic organic pollutants. This study examined the performance of a plasma reactor operated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) to degrade the effluent from R. aconiti processing. The effects of treatment time, discharge voltage, initial pH value and the feeding gas for the reactor on the degradation of this TCM wastewater were investigated. A bacterium bioluminescence assay was adopted in this study to test the toxicity of the TCM wastewater after non-thermal plasma treatment. The degradation ratio of the main toxic component was 87.77% after 60min treatment with oxygen used as feed gas and it was 99.59% when the initial pH value was 8.0. High discharge voltage and alkaline solution environment were beneficial for improving the degradation ratio. The treatment process was found to be capable of reducing the toxicity of the wastewater to a low level or even render it non-toxic. These experimental results suggested that the DBD plasma method may be a competitive technology for primary decomposition of biologically undegradable toxic organic pollutants in TCM wastewater.
Institute for Electric Light Sources, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: weny13@fudan.edu.cn.
Yiyong
Y
Wen
Institute of Tong Ren Tang, Beijing 100079, China.
Jianping
J
Yi
Institute for Electric Light Sources, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Shen
S
Zhao
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Song
S
Jiang
Institute of Tong Ren Tang, Beijing 100079, China.
Yuming
Y
Chi
Institute for Electric Light Sources, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: kfliu@fudan.edu.cn.
Kefu
K
Liu
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Aconitum alkaloid removal; Acute toxicity; Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs); Plasma; Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) wastewater