Sharif Digital Repository

Biofiltration is a commonlypracticed biological technique to remove volatile compounds from waste gas streams. From an industrial view-point, biofilter (BF) operation should be flexible to handle temperatures and inlet load (IL) variations. A compost BF was operated at different temperatures (30-45°C) and at various inlet loading rates (ILR; 8-598gm -3h -1) under intermittent loading conditions. Complete removal of n-hexane was observed at 30 and 35°C at ILRs up to 330gm -3h -1. Besides, 20-75% of the pollutant was removed at 40°C, corresponding to the different ILs applied to the BF. Increasing the temperature to 45°C decreased the removal efficiency (RE) significantly. A feed forward... 

This paper reports the results of a study of the transient removal of contaminant particle from enclosures containing an obstacle. We study specially a phenomena occur sometimes called the step effect. This phenomenon may occur if the size of the obstacle is small enough in comparison with the length or height of the enclosure. These results are the basic instruments for finding a model for contaminant particle removal from an enclosure containing an obstacle. A numerical CFD code is developed and validated with different cases, and then proper two- and three-dimensional cases are modeled. The size of the obstacle affect the order of magnitude of the convection-diffusion terms in the... 

This paper reports the results of a study of the transient removal of contaminant particle from enclosures. These results are the basic instruments for finding a model for contaminant particle removal from an enclosure containing an obstacle. A numerical CFD code is developed and validated with different cases, then proper two- and three-dimensional cases are modeled and improvements are done. The improvements are done by proper positioning the inlet/outlet vents. The size and position of the obstacle affect the order of magnitude of the convection-diffusion terms in the Navier-Stokes equations, hence results in different phenomena while removing the particles. One of these phenomena, the... 

This study investigated the diesel and COD removal from oily wastewater by electrocoagulation. Experiments were conducted in a 2-l reactor using aluminum and iron electrodes. Effects of different parameters including pH (3–11), time (10–60 min), voltage (4.5–10.5 V), supporting electrolyte (NaCl concentration), electrode material and initial diesel concentration (3500–11,000 mg/L) were studied in order to evaluate the efficiency of electrocoagulation. Furthermore, the consumption of energy and the amount of sludge produced by this method were evaluated. The highest removal efficiency (COD removal of 99.1 ± 0.2 % and diesel removal of 98.8 ± 0.2 %) was observed under the following conditions:... 

The effect of up velocity and influent COD concentration on the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in UASB reactors is discussed. To study these effects, four UASB reactors were built and utilized in parallel. Examinations were carried out in two different concentrations of molasses (500 mg COD/l and 1000 mg COD/l) and four different upward flow velocities. It was observed that at velocities greater than 1 m/h, SRB bacteria were easily washed out from the reactors due to lower density and lack of ability to form dense and firm granules. It was found that in low-strength wastewaters with a COD to sulphate ratio of 2, an upward velocity in the range of 1.5-2.5 m/h could be... 

The objective of this study is the investigation of formaldehyde degradation in a bioreactor with pumice stone as a support. The reactor was tested at different synthetic wastewater concentrations with total COD of 500, 1000 and 1500 mgL, respectively, at 24 h hydraulic retention time. The effect of feed composition was tested by changing the COD TCOD FA ratio in order to analyze the impact of formaldehyde concentration. The average formaldehyde and COD removal efficiencies obtained in the reactor were 97.1% and 88%, respectively. The maximum COD and formaldehyde removal efficiencies occurred at the COD TCOD F of 41 at COD T=1000mgL. The effect of toxic shock on reactor performance was... 

This study investigated the removal of triethylamine using a biotrickling filter. The influence of affecting parameters, such as height and recirculation liquid rate (VL) on contaminant removal efficiency, was examined in detail. The results demonstrated that in the constant empty bed residence time (EBRT), when VL was increased, the removal efficiency (RE) increased. Also, for a specific VL, increasing EBRT could also increase RE values. However, it seems that an increasing VL is a more cost-effective way to enhance RE as compared to an increasing EBRT. The obtained outcomes represented that for a constant EBRT, an increase in inlet loading (IL) could decrease RE. For lower ILs, the removal... 

Conventional wastewater treatment processes are not completely effective in removing vancomycin. In this study, affecting parameters on vancomycin degradation, such as pH, catalyst, initial vancomycin concentration, temperature, and reaction time were investigated simultaneously during a removal process based on titanium dioxide with ultraviolet irradiation in an aqueous solution. Titanium dioxide was synthesized and characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The average size of the synthesized crystals was 4.7 (± 0.2) nm. Design of experiments was done by a central composite design based on the response surface methodology and multiple linear regression was... 

The aim of this research work is to investigate sorption characteristic of acid treated brown algae Sargassum bevanom (acid treated S. bevanom) for the removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions. The acid-treated alga was prepared by transferring the S. bevanom into 0.5. M HCl and then stirring the mixture at 300. rpm for 6. h at room temperature. The sorption of Cr(VI) ions by batch method is carried out. The optimum conditions of biosorption were found to be: a biomass dose of 0.7. g in 100. ml of Cr(VI), contact time of 110. min and pH 3, respectively. In optimum condition, removal efficiency was 89.64%. It was found that temperature has a positive effect on the removal efficiency.... 

In this study organically modified nanoclay were prepared by exchanging of the cetyltrimethylammonium (CTAB), with inorganic/metal ions/cations in montmorillonite structure. To investigate the influence of the amount of modifier on basal spacing and subsequent removal efficiency of hydrocarbon, different amount of modifier was used. The modified and unmodified nanoclays characterized by XRD, CHN and FTIR techniques. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the interlayer spacing of CTAB-modified clays increased from 12 to 22Å. The effectiveness of the sorbent materials for sorption of a range of products was investigated using crude oil, kerosene, gasoline and toluene. The process... 

This study was carried out for examination of a lab-scale UASB reactor for optimization of organic loading rate and hydraulic retention time. The total volume of the reactor was 5 1 with an effective height of 160 cm and diameter of 5 cm. This reactor was used to treat fortified municipal wastewater at volumetric organic loadings of 3.6, 7.2, 10.8, and 14.4 kg m3 d 1 at temperature 30°C. The result of present work indicated an optimum range for organic loading (7.2 to 10.8 kg m-3 d-1) with COD removal efficiency of about 85%. Moreover, optimum HRT for influent COD concentration of 1200mg/l is shown to be only 4 hours. Furthermore nitrate removal efficiency was about 80% at optimized organic... 

Low cost dispersed supported cobalt oxide nanocatalysts on activated carbon (AC) were prepared by two different methods: (1) combined impregnation and deposition–precipitation (IMP-DP) and (2) heterogeneous deposition–precipitation (HDP). XRD, TEM, FESEM, BET and Boehm techniques were used for the characterization of the support and the catalysts. Characterization analyses indicated the negative effect of the wet impregnation method on the IMP-DP technique for the preparation of catalysts for the total oxidation of cyclohexane in air. The catalysts prepared by HDP and IMP-DP methods were found to have significant differences in oxidation activity, morphology, particle size, and shape of... 

Porous nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared using CaCO3 particles as solid porogens. The hydrogels were prepared by polymerization and grafting of acrylamide and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid onto the starch in the presence of CaCO3 and graphene oxide. CaCO3 solid porogens were then removed by washing with acid and porous structures were obtained. The prepared hydrogels were used as adsorbents for methylene blue as a model cationic dye; and a very high adsorption capacity, up to 714.29 mg g-1, was obtained. Kinetics and isotherms of adsorption and the effect of porosity of hydrogel as well as other experimental conditions were also investigated. The prepared adsorbents were... 

In the present study, an aqueous root-extract of Acanthophyllum laxiusculum (AREAL) was evaluated for phenanthrene removal from two samples of contaminated soil. AREAL showed a linear solubilization enhancement for phenanthrene with a weight solubilization ratio of 0.05. Batch soil washing experiments caused the removal of phenanthrene with efficiencies of 96.7% and 78% from soils with 0.78% and 2.73% organic carbon, respectively. Desorption kinetics of phenanthrene exhibited a twophase pattern, namely, a rapid release as the initial phase and a slower removal as a subsequent phase. A two-compartment exponential model could adequately represent the two phases of the kinetic pattern of... 

In this study, four types of mixed matrix membranes were fabricated using polysulfone (as the base polymer) and different contents of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (as modifier) through wet phase inversion method. Based on the amounts of GO (0, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt%), the synthesized membranes named as M1, M2, M3, and M4, respectively. The membranes characteristics were evaluated using FE-SEM, FT-IR, and water contact angle measurements. In addition, the performance of the prepared membranes was investigated in terms of basic parameters: filtrate water flux, nitrate removal efficiency, and antifouling properties. Results showed significant improvements of the characteristics of modified... 

In regard to highly poisonous effects of cyanide ion, concerns have been focused recently on treatment of such compounds in different ways. Four bacterial strains (C1-C4) capable of using cyanide as nitrogen source were isolated from contaminated gold mine soil samples under alkaline conditions at 30 °C, pH 9.5-10.5, and agitation speed 150 rpm. The gram-negative bacterium C3 (identified as Pseudomonas parafulva NBRC 16636(T) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing) was able to tolerate cyanide up to 500 ppm besides removing 93.5% of 200 ppm cyanide in 13 days which was confirmed by microorganisms growth. The addition of basal salts enhanced the removal efficiency of C3 by 16%. Cyanide removal... 

In this study, four types of mixed matrix membranes were fabricated using polysulfone (as the base polymer) and different contents of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (as modifier) through wet phase inversion method. Based on the amounts of GO (0, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt%), the synthesized membranes named as M1, M2, M3, and M4, respectively. The membranes characteristics were evaluated using FE-SEM, FT-IR, and water contact angle measurements. In addition, the performance of the prepared membranes was investigated in terms of basic parameters: filtrate water flux, nitrate removal efficiency, and antifouling properties. Results showed significant improvements of the characteristics of modified... 

In this study, a new inorganic-organic nano fibrous membrane (PTSNFM) has been fabricated via immobilization of carbazol-based Schiff base (S) into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) - tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) polymeric support using the electrospinning method. PTSNFM has been used as an optode to detect and remove of mercury (II) ions. The characterization of PTSNFM has been fully carried out using different methods including FE-SEM, TEM, AFM, viscosity, surface tension and conductivity. FE-SEM and FT-IR analysis demonstrated the binding of Hg (II) to the PTSNFM via chelating of Hg (II) to the Schiff base ligand. PTSNFM can detect Hg (II) in the dynamic range of 0.020–0.50 ng/mL, with the LOD... 

Zeolite-based micromotors were developed to eliminate the biological and chemical contamination of water in a fast and efficient way. The motors consist of a silver-exchanged zeolite core and a partial catalytic coating. These porous engines showed rapid killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria cells in a very short time, less than 7.5 minutes. The heavy metal uptake of the zeolitic motors during the first 20 minutes of contact was considerably higher than that of zeolite particles by 23% for Pb2+, 19% for Co2+, and 16% for Ni2+. Also, the maximum removal efficiency of the motors (at room temperature and for 6 hours) for Pb2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ was 93%, 87%, and 78%, respectively, higher than...