Reclamation of forward osmosis reject water containing hexavalent chromium via coupled electrochemical-physical processes

Milad Mousazadeh*, Zohreh Naghdali, Işık Kabdaşlı, Miguel A. Sandoval, Fatima Ezzahra Titchou, Farideh Malekdar, Mahmoud Nasr, Carlos A. Martínez-Huitle, Eric Lichtfouse, Mohammad Mahdi Emamjomeh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Forward osmosis is a water separation process that uses the natural energy of osmotic pressure to separate water from dissolved solutes through a semipermeable membrane. One of the major challenges using this process is the rejection water which contains high content of pollutants, hindering its practical application. Herein, for the first time, this work introduces a coupled electrochemical-physical process including iron-electrocoagulation/filtration/sedimentation as a cost-effective treatment to the forward osmosis reject water containing hexavalent chromium to be reclaimed. The synergistic treatment was optimized through a central composite design and response surface methodology to enhance hexavalent Cr removal and minimize operating costs, electrical energy consumption, and settled sludge volume. A 90.0% chromium removal was achieved under optimized conditions: electrolysis time of 59.7 min and current of 1.24 A (J = 6.32 mA cm−2). In addition, operating costs of 0.014 USD m−3, electrical energy consumption of 0.005 kWh m−3, and settled sludge volume of 445 mL L−1 were obtained.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)888-901
Number of pages14
JournalEnvironmental Technology (United Kingdom)
Volume45
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Electrocoagulation
  • Forward osmosis concentrate
  • Hexavalent chromium removal
  • Response surface methodology
  • Sustainable treatment

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