Physicochemical Methods for Water and Wastewater Treatment, Proceedings of the Third International Conference, Organized under sponsorship of The Federation of European Chemical Societies, by the Polish Chemical Society and the Maria Curie-Sklodowska Univ

382 Pages·1982·9.795 MB·ii-viii, 1-394\382

by  L. Pawlowski (Eds.)

Other volumes in this series
1 Atmospheric Pollution 1978 edited by M.M. Benarie
2 Air Pollution Reference Measurement Methods and Systems edited by T. Schneider,
H.W. de Koning and L.J. Brasser
3 Biogeochemical Cycling of Mineral-FormingE lements edited by P.A. Trudinger and
D.J. Swaine
4 Potential Industrial Carcinogens and Mutagens by L. Fishbein
5 Industrial Waste Management by S.E. JQrgensen
6 Trade and Environment: A Theoretical Enquiry by H. Siebert, J. Eichberger,
R. Gronych and R. Pethig
7 Field Worker Exposure during Pesticide Application edited by W.F. Tordoir and
E.A.H. van Heemstra-Lequin
8 Atmospheric Pollution 1980 edited by M.M. Benarie
9 Energetics and Technology of Biological Elimination of Wastes edited by G. Milazzo
10 Bioengineering, Thermal Physiology and Comfort edited by K. Cena and J.A. Clark
11 Atmospheric Chemistry. Fundamental Aspects by E. Me'sziros
12 Water Supply and Health edited by H. van Lelyveld and B.C.J. Zoeteman
13 Man under Vibration, Suffering and Protection edited by G. Bianchi, K.V. Frolov
and A. Oledzki
14 Principles of EnvironmentalS cience and Technology by S.E. JQrgensen and I. Johnsen
15 Disposal of Radioactive Wastes by 2. Dlouhq
16 Mankind and Energy edited by A. Blanc-Lapierre
17 Quality of Groundwater edited by W. van Duijvenbooden, P. Glasbergen and
H. van Lelyveld
18 Education and Safe Handling in Pesticide Application edited by E.A.H. van Heemstra-
Lequin and W.F. Tordoir
Studies in Environmental Science 19
PH YSI C O C H EM IC AL
METHO DSF OR WATER AND
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Proceedings of the Third International Conference, Lublin, Poland, 21-25 September 1981
Organized under sponsorship of
The Federation of European Chemical Societies, by the Polish Chemical Society and the
Maria Curie-S kl odows ka University
Edited by
1. Pawlowski
Maria Curie-SklodowskaU niversity, Lublin, Poland
ELSEVIER SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM -OXFORD -NEW YORK 1982
ELSEVIER SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
Molenwerf 1
P.O. Box 21 1, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Distributors for the United States and Canada:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
52, Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
Library of Congrer5 Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Physicochernical methods for water and wastewater treat-
ment.
(Studies in environmental science ; V. 19)
Includes indexes.
1. Sewage--Purification--Congresses. 2. Water--
Purification- -Congresses. I. Paw#owski , $uc j an.
11. Federation of European Chemical Societies.
111. Polskie Towarzystwo .C hemiczne. IV. Uniwersytet
Marii CurieSk$odowskiej V. Series.
TD745. P48 628.3 82-2338
ISBN 0-444-ko67-3 MCR2
ISBN 0-444-42067-3 (Vol. 19)
ISBN 0-444-41696-X (Series)
0 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, 1982
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other-
wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company,
P.O. Box 330, 1000 AH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Printed in The Netherlands
VIII
Advisory Scientific Board for Publication of the Conference Proceedings
F. A. AYER Research Triangle Institute, U.S.A.
J. BARCICKI Maria Curie- Sklodowska University, Poland
B. A. BOLT0 CSIRO, Division of Chemical Technology, Australia
R. L. BUNCH Environmental Research Laboratory, U. S. EPA, U.S.A .
J. M. HEFTY Rohm and Haas, U.S.A.
A. L. KOWAL Wroclaw Technical University, Poland
W. L. LACY U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.A.
G. R. LANZA University of Texas at Dallas, U.S.A.
M. JARONIEC Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Poland
L. LIBERTI Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque, Italy
R. J. MARTIN The University of Birmingham, England
L. D. ROLAND Foster Wheeler Limited, England
G.T IRAVANTI Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque, Italy
T. Z. WINNICKI Wroclaw Technical University, Poland
A. VERDIER Institute National des Sciences Appliques, France
I
PREFACE
For centuries water has been protected by natural mechanisms of self
purification which have acted without any disturbances to the environment.
Pollutants excreted by some organisms were degraded by others. As a result,
a dynamic equilibrium between the particular components of nature has
been preserved and local ecological disturbances, which occur periodically,
have never exceeded the ability of natural purification processes to control
them.
The appearance of man and his existence has introduced a new element
into nature - human intelligence, the influence of which can be divided
into two periods. The first period was man’s detection and imitation of
natural phenomena, when human interference in natural processes was no
stronger than that of other living creatures on our planet. The second period
is characterised by conscious human interference in nature. Man has been
interfering more and more with the natural environment and, simultaneously,
he has been divorcing himself from nature itself. Increasingly, man has been
creating his own artificial environment, where natural processes are disturbed
by human intelligence, the product of which is technology. This is a power-
ful agent that has caused deep changes in nature.
Technology has influenced and is influencing man himself, changing him
as well as his environment. It is technology that has created conditions for
a fuller and richer life for large populations which, otherwise, would have
been doomed to almost animal living conditions, and in which the principal
problem was biological survival of the individual person. This does not mean
that the struggle for the biological existence of mankind is over. There are
still large areas on our globe where maintenance of the biological existence
of the population is a real problem. For these people it is the further devel-
opment of technology which offers the hope of creating conditions for
decent human existence. Opponents of technology accuse it of being the
main cause of the present plagues of civilization, one of which is pollution
of the environment, which is a threat to human survival. Opponents of
technology have also linked technology with the vast number of problems
besetting civilization, such as the large number of road accidents, the disease
of cancer, etc. But one too easily forgets the plagues which technology has
eliminated; it is forgotten for example, that the natural plagues of the mid
14th century killed one-third of Europe’s population. They were followed
by years of hunger because the means of production - human effort and
labour - was destroyed. It took more than two centuries for the human
population to be re-established. The present hazards, though considerable,
are not as great as the plagues of the pre-technological period. I think that
the technology which controls the manufacturing of goods should also be
able to eliminate the agents responsible for disturbances of the environmen-
tal equilibrium.
Natural self-purification processes, i.e. coagulationsedimentation and
2
biostabilisation, are able to neutralise natural pollutants. However, the in-
creasing amount of contaminants arising from man’s activity exceeds the
ability of the aqueous environment for self-purification. Therefore, there is
the need for artificial intensification of these processes by man. The proces-
ses known from the natural cycle of water have been developed first and
most satisfactorily, since the main task in the protection of the aqueous
environment is the removal of pollutants from it. Thus, protection of the
environment is achieved through the elimination of pollutants by their
decomposition or precipitation.
Recently, besides problems of environment protection, there have ap-
peared the problems of raw material shortages. The first alarm came with the
energy crisis of 1973. Since that time the worry about a sufficient supply
of raw materials has been accompanied by worries about their gradual ex-
haustion. We should realise that the pollutants contained in wastewater are
a part of the manufacturing by-products or even the products themselves,
which reguire raw materials and energy to produce them. In such a situation,
the destruction of pollutants to accomplish environment protection is not
the best solution. There is a strong need for the recovery ofp ollutants from
wastewater and for recycling them into production, i.e. implementing the
rule of total reuse of the wastewater components. The basic task is to find
suitable separation methods. Because much of chemistry is greatly concerned
with separation methods, obviously chemistry should be able to play an im-
portant role in environmental protection.
Our Conference was focused on the application of chemical methods for
environmental protection, and its main purpose was to provide a forum for
the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge between those who know
chemistry and those who know about environmental problems. In other
words, the Conference helped to link knowledge of chemistry with environ-
mental problems to be solved by chemical methods. I believe that chemists
may help greatly in keeping our environment suitable for human life. I also
believe that environmental problems provide an intellectual challenge for
those chemical scientists and engineers who are dedicated to the worthy
mission of making a cleaner world. I also hope they will attract the interest
of those scientists and engineers at present not involved in such problems,
who may have useful ideas to contribute to their solution.
This book contains a set of selected papers which were presented at our
Conference. In addition, we shall publish a special issue of ‘%nuironmental
Protection Engineering”* containing another group ofp apers presented also
at the Conference. The material should be of interest to students, teachers,
researchers and practitioners of waste management, and be suitable as
supplementary literature for university courses at the senior undergraduate/
graduate levels in science and engineering. It should encourage those chem-
ists who wish to contribute to keeping our environment clean. The first
Conference organised in 1976 at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University
was on a national level. However, the great interest in the problems discussed
3
at the Conference stimulated us to organise the 1979 Conference on an
international level. The proceedings, which contained 32 selected papers
from that conference, were published by Pergamon Press in 1980+*.
I intend to organise a conference every two years, and the next one, the
4th International Conference, will be held in 1983 in Toulouse (France). I
shall be grateful for any suggestions which readers may care to send me
concerning this forthcoming event.
LUCJAN PAWLOWSKZ (Editor}
*Edited by T. Winnicki of Wroclaw Technical University, Poland.
**Physicochemical Methods for Water and Wastewater Treatment, edited by L. Pawlowski.
5
Reprinted from: Physicochemicalkfethodsf or Water and Wastewater Treatment, by L. Pawlowski
(Editor), 5-6
0 1982 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherhnds
FOREWORD
There is no possible living world without water: we all know but usually forget that
water accounts for 70% to 90% of the weight of living organisms. And no proper life is
conceivable without clean water. In the past it was enough for water to carry microbes
and be the vehicle of epidemics. Thanks to technical advances water nowadays also carries
man-made pollutants of a wonderful variety and abundance: toxics, skin-irritants, cancer-
;forming agents, or simply compounds that prevent both flora and fauna to increase and
multiply as they could.
Chemists bear a good part of the responsibility for this state of things, and it is their
duty to use the environment without abusing it. We must not expect the chemist, or
anybody, to operate without causing the slightest change in the environment: from the
first days of his existence man’s activities have changed it. But the change ought to be for
the better, or at least not too much for the worse.
The responsibility of the chemist is to clean what he has contributed to pollute, or to
clean an environment polluted by others. It must be kept in mind that chemistry is not
only the dirty, polluting, nauseating activity that many people fear, but also the science
which, along with biology, provides the means for making or keeping our environment
reasonably clean. It chemists must confess their sins they have also a good case to plead,
and a Conference dealing with with ‘HOWt o make water clean again? is an element of
the case.
It is to be wished that the public will take a clear conscience of the magnitude of the
problem: there is no raw material more abundant than water, and none to show such ex-
amples of waste, as well as of the difficulties in reaching the right solution.
Not to mention pollution - for a minute - the simple problem of water-consumption
is quite delicate. Everybody knows that a large industrial zone was developed on the out-
skirts of Venice to prevent it from becoming a dead, museum city, and that the result of
the increase in water-consumption was to make the city sink slowly into the sea. This
problem is on its way to be solved, and another is appearing in and around Paris.
There, in order to prevent pollutwn or limit its increase,f actories were incited to move
towards the provinces. The incitation has been successful to the extent that water-con-
sumptwn has markedly decreased, with a corresponding rise in the underground-water
level. This level, in some places, now nearly reaches its values of more than I00 years ago,
and a number of modern buildings have their lowest underground levelsflooded.. It might
soon become necessary to pump underground Paris water simply to pour it into theseine,
at a time when energy must be saved.
In the case of water pollution the worst problems are probably those linked to che-
mically stable compounds, and how to destroy them, and that of compounds biologically
active at very low concentrations. When they are known, and when a purification techni-
6
que is available, the cost is commonly inacceptable. This problem supplies the best poss-
ible motive for the development of low-pollution processes, or of all recycling techniques.
But chemists know that these techniques are easier to mention than to achieve success on
the industrial scale: every effort in this direction must be encouraged.
In the same way purification and recovery techniques and processes are of the utmost
importance, both for cleaning our water supply and avoiding wasting scarce materials. It
is also one of the achievements of the past fifteen years that most of our world is at
present conscious of the limited availability of raw materials. It could also be argued that
our past irresponsibility is difficult to understand: Man, the Lord of creation, has been
able to live until a few years ago without ever thinking that the world resources were
finite. Or if he thought about it he just did not care.
And man, and chemists first among men, ought also not to forget that there can be too
much of a good thing: if effluents become too clean water-treatment units may have been
built in vain at hiph cost. These units must exist in order to be able to cope with any un-
expected pollution, but they must also receive a water with a hgh enough content in
pollutants, for the purification processes to operate properly. This is not an academic
problem but a fact of chemical life, met with a number of times in many a large city.
However it can be admitted that too much pollution is still a problem with a greater
impact than too little pollution, and that cleaning the Great Lakes in the US, preventing
the Baltic and the Mediterranean from being turned into sewers, ensuring a supply of
clean water from a polluted Rhine to the Netherlands, are among the major aims of those
concerned with our environment.
If and when these problems are solved other will have to be faced, since pollution seems
to be one of the steps in industrial development. Underdeveloped countries aim at creat-
ing a modern and efficient industry able to sustain the world competition with respect to
prices. This often results in cutting the expenses on safety and antipollutiondevices,a sav-
ing for which the price must be paid a little later.
A clean environment, already the objective of many, is to become in the near future
the concern of all mankind, and an opportunity for international cooperation.
Until now national egoisms have prevailed in most cases, and a number of countries
have been satisfied with keeping their doorstep clean through the simple expedient of
directing their own pollution towards the neighbouring country. This is no longer toler-
able, and a number of international agreements show the growing awareness of govern-
ments of the gravity of the problem. Since the scientific community knows no intellectual
borders or barriers ot is certainly a part of our task, and the most respectable, to contri-
bute according to our abilities to the establishment of an unpolluted world.
It is a matter of satisfaction that for the third time an International Conference is held
in Lublin on the recum‘ng theme of ‘Physico-chemicalMethodsfo r Water and Waste water
Treatment’. This is typically a subject with a long life expectancy, and an outcome that
will be useful to all. The Federation of European Chemical Societies hasgiven this Confer-
ence its sponsorship after a discussion which must have taken all of thirty seconds: none
of us had to be convinced that the subject is timely and will benefit all of us.
C. TRO YANOW SKY
Chairman, Working Party on Chemistry and the Environment,
Federation of the European Chemical Societies
Paris, July I981
7
Reprinted from: PhysicochemicalMethods for Water and Wastewater Treatment, by L. Pawlowski
(Editor), 7-12
0 1982 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
OUR ENVIRONMENT : THE PRESENT AND FUTURE TRENDS
In the decade that environmental quality became a matter of great public concern,
progress has been made, particularly in controlling the visible and obvious forms of en-
vironmental pollution. Some of the stated environmental goals have not been achieved.
Today’s problems being addressed by the US.E nvironmental Protection Agency (EPA),
and others are becoming move evident, more pervasive, and more difficult to solve.
Hazardous wastes are a case in point. Several dramatic indications of the potential
scope and intractability of this environmental problem have surfaced - first in Love
Canal in New York, then at the “Valley of the Drums ’’ in Kentucky, and more recently
in old landfills in Arkansas. Many other examples can be cited, all have one thing in
common: specialists m y ( or may not) have known about them, but they caught local
communities by surprise.
Generally, we know what causes the problems. While some hpve “natural”o rigins, the
root cause of a majority of environmental problems can be traced to human beings and
their activities. World-wide, both population and economic activity have been increasing
for centuries.
Like citizens in other industrialized countries, we have generally accepted the pmposi-
tion that economic growth is directly correlated with human werrare. We have also assum-
ed that economic growth is directly related to energy consumption. The President allued
to the interrelationships among energy, the economy, and the environment. These inter-
relationships harelong been recognized, but the higher energy costs, inflation, and the
horrifring effects of the inadequate disposal of hazardous wastes has remined us in recent
months of how much our daily lives are affected by energy, economic, and environmental
policies.
Currently, advocates of accelemted domestic energy production argue that environ-
mental protection goals should be given a lower priority than our energy goals. Numerous
proposals have been made to relax environmental standards, delay compliance schedules,
and grant environmental exemptions. These proposals generally have not been adopted -
at least in part because the public and its leaders continue to be strongly commetted to
protecting and improving environmental quality. There now appears to be an increasing
realization that energy, economic, and environmental policies must be considered jointly
in the development and implementation of regulations.
Recent Trends
Environmental regulations, like most regulations, are often complex and may lead to
increased costs. Energy-economic-environmentalc onflicts are frequently present. A trend