Design, Scaling, and Development of Biofilters with E crassipes for Treatment of Water Contaminated with Cr (VI)

Abstract

The heavy metal water treatment process is the subject of worldwide research. Chromium (VI) is a heavy metal that is very dangerous to humans due to it being able to alter genetic material and cause cancer. Cellulose is an interesting material for removing heavy metals, and excellent removals have been achieved in many experiments at the laboratory scale. However, scaling these processes to polluting industries is not easy. The objective of this research is to design, scale, and test a biofilter with biomass of E crassipes transformed with iron for treatment of water contaminated with Cr (VI). The biomasses of E crassipes (EC) and E crassipes with iron (EC + Fe) were evaluated at the batch laboratory scale to determine the adsorption capacities through Langmuir isotherms. With these capacities, a mass balance was formulated, obtaining the design equation to build a biofilter at the pilot scale and providing the required amount of biomass from (EC) and (EC + Fe) for the adequate treatment of the Cr (VI) present in the water. The mass, as suggested by the relevant equations, for the greatest concentration of Cr (VI) of 500 mg/L was 42 g together with a flow rate of 10 mL/min for the biomass of (EC + Fe); for the biomass of (EC), the suggested model for the treatment of the greatest Cr (VI) concentration of 500 mg/L was 64 g of biomass together with a flow rate of 10 mL/min. We conclude that the two pilot-scale treatment systems were consistent with the Cr (VI) removal process and that the equation for the design was adequate.

The Design of a Sustainable Industrial Wastewater Treatment System and The Generation of Biohydrogen from E. crassipes

“…Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of E. crassipes biomass in removing Cr (VI) and Pb (II) from continuous systems. For instance, in [1][2][3][4], over one liter of Cr (VI)-contaminated water was treated, resulting in the removal of approximately 80% of the chromium found in tannery wastewater, with around 50 g of this biomass.…”

“…The model is correlated with the Langmuir isotherm. The Carreño model is used to determine the design parameters of this type of system [1][2][3][4][5], in the Table 1, is the Adsorption models.…”

“…The presence of hydroxyl (OH) and carboxyl (COOH) groups facilitates cation exchange with heavy metals. These groups were evidenced using FTIR tests [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Continuous treatment systems with fixed biomass have been used to purify water by exposing it to cellulose.…”

The Design of a Process for Adsorbing and Eluting Chromium (VI) Using Fixed-Bed Columns of E. crassipes with Sodium Tripolyphosphate (TPP)

“…The presence of hydroxyl (OH) and carboxylic (COOH) groups in cellulose leads to the removal of heavy metals by adsorption through cation exchange or chemical mechanisms [17,18]. This cellulose is found in considerable amounts within the aquatic plant E. crassipes [19][20][21][22], which is abundant in tropical environments due to its dry biomass resulting from regular cleaning in the wetlands, lagoons, and rivers of Bogotá D.C. [23,24].…”

Development of a treatment for water contaminated with Cr (VI) using cellulose xanthogenate from E. crassipes on a pilot scale

“…Chemical precipitation is the most applied, for the removal of heavy metals. However, this method generates substantial amounts of highly contaminated sludge, and its implementation and operation are very expensive 2 .…”