Epa. Vanlangerak et Hvm. Hamelers, INFLUENT CALCIUM REMOVAL BY CRYSTALLIZATION REUSING ANAEROBIC EFFLUENT ALKALINITY, Water science and technology, 36(6-7), 1997, pp. 341-348
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Water Resources","Environmental Sciences","Engineering, Civil
Waste waters from the waste paper industry and landfill leachates cont
ain high calcium concentrations. Treatment of those waste waters in an
anaerobic system will lead to extensive precipitation of calcium carb
onates. Problems due to accumulation of calcium carbonate in anaerobic
reactors can be avoided by applying a crystallization reactor to remo
ve calcium from the influent. This solution, however, is expensive due
to the need to dose alkalinity. In this paper, the possibility of reu
sing the produced alkalinity by recirculating anaerobic effluent was i
nvestigated. Calculations and experiments were carried out to investig
ate to what extent calcium could be removed from the influent. Experim
ents were carried out in a 4.5 1 UASB reactor and a 0.8 1 crystallizat
ion reactor, seeded with sand. The influent contained up to 1800 mg.l(
-1) calcium and the substrate was acetic acid. Removal of calcium from
the influent could be successfully accomplished. Recirculation of the
anaerobic effluent supplied sufficient bicarbonate alkalinity for cry
stallization. Consequently, no extra chemicals (i.e. Na2CO3 and/or NaO
H) were needed. A chemical equilibrium model, with adapted pseudo solu
bility products, is a very useful tool to determine the proper recycle
ratio of effluent for optimal performance. (C) 1997 IAWQ. Published b
y Elsevier Science Ltd.