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Treatability and Assessment of Coal Conversion Wastewaters

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 9/1/78-8/31/80

Investigators: Singer, Lamb, Pfaender, Goodman, Reckhow, Speitel, Rader, Marshall

The objectives of this research were to assess the environmental impact of wastewaters originating from the production of synthetic fuels from coal and to evaluate various technologies for the treatment of these wastewaters. The major focus was on aerobic biological treatment which wais projected to be the principal means of removing organic impurities from these wastewaters and a cornerstone of any overall wastewater treatment program.

Proposal, Plans and Reports

Publications based on this work

• Singer, P.C., F.K. Pfaender, J. Chinchilli, A.F. Maciorowski, J.C. Lamb, III, and R.G. Goodman, "Assessment of Coal Conversion Wastewaters, Characterization and Preliminary Biotreatability," USEPA 600/7-78-181 (1978)
• Singer, P.C., J.C. Lamb, III, F.K. Pfaender, and R.G. Goodman, "Treatability and Assessment of Coal Conversion Wastewaters, Phase I," USEPA 600/7-79-248 (1979)
• Singer, P.C., J.C. Lamb, III, F.K. Pfaender, R.G. Goodman, R. Jones and D.A. Reckhow, "Evaluation of Coal Conversion Wastewater Treatability," pp. 457-478 in Proceedings of Fourth Symposium on Environmental Aspects of Fuel Conversion Technology, Environmental Protection Agency Report No. EPA-600/7-79-217 (1979). (submitted copy)
• Lamb, J.C., P.C. Singer, R.D. Rader, D.A. Reckhow and G.E. Speitel, "Characterization and Biological Treatability of Coal Conversion Wastewaters," pp. 63-72 in Proceedings of 34th Annual Purdue Industrial Waste Conference, Ann Arbor Science Publishers (1980).
• Singer, P.C., Miller, E., Yen, C.Y. and Reckhow, D.A. (1981) Physical-Chemical Treatment of Biologically-Treated Coal-Gasification Wastewater. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 182(AUG), 32-ENVR.
• Marshall, B.R., Lamb, J.C., III and Reckhow, D.A. (1982) Some Problems and Alternatives in Applying Biological Treatment Models to a Coal Conversion Wastewater, pp. 131-144 in Proceedings of 36th Annual Purdue Industrial Waste Conference, Ann Arbor Science Publishers.
  

Conference presentations based on this work

 

 

Additional Background: A synthetic wastewater, designed to simulate a real conversion process wastewater, was formulated and fed to a series of aerobic biological reactors. In addition to TOC, BOD, and COD data, the treated wastewaters were analyzed with respect to their phenolic content and the presence of residual organics using chromatographic techniques. Aquatic bioassays and mammalian cytotoxicity tests were performed on the raw and treated wastewaters to evaluate their potential environmental impact.
Experimental results from Phase I of the project, included coagulation, adsorption, and preliminary biological treatability studies. Model studies, using a simulated coal conversion wastewater at 25% of full strength, suggest that coal conversion wastewaters are biologically treatable via aerobic treatment processes; phenol is completely removed by biological systems with sludge ages greater than 5 days. Preliminary aquatic bioassay experiments and cytotoxicity bioassays showed that the toxicity of the wastewater was substantially reduced following biological treatment and that the reduction in toxicity increased with increasing sludge age. The adsorbability of the residual organics following biological treatment on activated carbon was found to decrease with increasing sludge age. Acidification and coagulation studies indicated that tar can be effectively precipitated and removed from coal conversion wastewaters by acidification to pH 4.5 to 5.0; coagulation using alum appears to be an ineffective means of removing tar from these wastewaters.

 

 

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