This study investigated the use of activated carbon and ion exchange for the removal of color and dissolved solids from pulp and paper wastewater generated by the Union Camp Corporation mill in Franklin, Virginia. The objective of the treatment was to provide a high quality effluent suitable for direct recycling. This advanced treatment followed pretreatment by lime, alum, or ferric chloride. Required effluent quality was defined as being 5 Pt-Co units color and 75 mg/L chloride. Granular and powdered carbons, manufactured by the Westvaco Corporation, were utilized in the study. The ion exchange resin investigated was Amberlite IRA-68, manufactured by Rohm and Haas. Carbon treatment consisted of batch and column operation; ion exchange column treatment was used. The results of the study indicated that the required effluent quality was achieved by activated carbon and ion exchange treatment of wastewater that had been chemically pretreated. The most successful treatment schemes for the biotreated effluent were pretreatment with 500 mg/L alum or 2500 mg/L lime, followed by carbon column treatment for color polishing and ion exchange for chloride removal. The lime pretreated sample produced an effluent containing less than 5 Pt-Co units color as necessary for reuse, while the alum pretreated sample would require dilution with make-up water or additional treatment (i.e. ion exchange) to obtain recycle quality. The use of ion exchange for chloride removal is not practical due to the preferential exchange for sulfates. Until such time as sulfate can be eliminated from the wastewater source, other methods of dissolved solids removal should be investigated. / M. Eng.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

Ultrafiltration studies were conducted to determine a treatment approach to remove color and organic carbon from the pulp and paper wastewaters at the Union Camp Corporation, Franklin, VA. Analysis of data collected during this research indicate that ultrafiltration can produce an effluent with less than 5 color units and less than 5 mg/L TOC (99% and 97% removal respectively). The data also indicate that biotreatment of the wastes prior to ultrafiltration removes the smaller molecular weight organic compounds, making ultrafiltration more effective. Pretreatment by pH adjustment and alum coagulation were not effective in improving ultrafiltration performance. Concentration studies indicate that volume reductions up to 95% may be accomplished without excessive membrane fouling. Membrane cleaning with caustic, hypochlorite and detergent produced identical results. It is expected that ultrafiltration would be a more cost effective method of color and TOC removal than coagulation, and would not require sludge disposal. / M.S.

M.S.

In nearly all chemical industries the problem of wastes is one of importance, and in any scientific study of waste disposal, the concept of the B.O.D. of the waste is vital. The B.O.D. is usually measured by an arbitrary standard test procedure, but may be determined by manometric measurement of the free oxygen utilized. In either case, the B.O.D. determination requires at least 24 hours. Since the free oxygen involved in the B.O.D. of a waste is utilized in metabolic processes of various microorganisms present, an increase in the number of microorganisms lowers the time required for oxidation of the wastes. In this investigation, the B.O.D. of several wastes was determined by measuring the change in the oxygen uptake of high concentrations of microorganisms because of the presence of the waste. These determinations involved a modification of the resting cell technic used in conjunction with direct Warburg technics. High concentrations of washed cells were prepared and small amounts of the waste added. A control was prepared with distilled water. The effects of waste concentration, bacterial concentration, and temperature were studied. The wastes studied included raw sewage, blowdown liquor and total mill wastes from a semichemical pulp mill, and effluent from an anaerobic, sewage-blowdown liquor digester. The concentrations of microorganisms used ranged from 3.4 to 17.0 milligrams of dry bacterial cells in a total volume of 2.5 milliliters of a 0.05 molar phosphate buffer at a pH of 6.8. The manometric B.O.D. was determined at 30°C. The manometric B.O.D. remained constant at 1,785 parts per million for 1:50 and 1:125 volumetric dilutions of the effluent. The manometric B.O.D. remained constant at 10,200 parts per million for volumetric dilutions ranging from 1:125 to 1:1000 for a sample of the blowdown liquor. The manometric B.O.D. of sewage, blowdown liquor, and mixtures of the two wastes was determined. The values obtained were compared with the standard five-day B.O.D. The manometric B.O.D. of the sewage and the blowdown liquor was 413 parts per million and 13,760 parts per million, respectively. The standard five-day B.O.D. of the sewage and the blowdown liquor was 495 parts per million and 37,800 parts per million, respectively. The manometric B.O.D. of 1:1 by volume mixture of the two wastes was 9,900 parts per million, while the standard five-day B.O.D. was 31,200 parts per million. / Master of Science

Low-grade pyrolusite manganese ore from the Paint Bank deposits of Virginia was prepared for flotation by grinding to different degrees of fineness. The coarsest size was a 28 Tyler Mesh and the finest was 100 Tyler mesh. Under size products of the grinding were as fine as minus 200 Tyler Mesh. Flotation tests were run on the ore in a Denver Sub-A Flotation Cell of 500 gram capacity. Each run was made with an amount of ore closely approximating this capacity. The flotation reagents were added in a definite order allowing three minutes between each addition. A conditioning period of fifteen minutes followed the addition of the reagents in each case. Crude tallol was tested as a collecting agent for the manganese dioxide in the ore, with auxiliary reagents. Runs were made varying the amounts of tallol, pine oil, frother, sodium silicate silica depressor, and the hydrogen ion concentration was varied with either sulphuric acid or hydrated lime. Crude oleic acid from tallol was also tested as a collecting agent for the manganese dioxide in the ore, with auxiliary reagents. Runs were made varying the amounts of crude oleic acid, sodium silicate depressor, and the hydrogen ion concentration was varied with either sulphuric acid or hydrated lime. Sulphonated tallol was also tested as a collecting agent, but the preliminary results did not seem to justify continuing with an extensive investigation. The grade of concentrate was fairly high but the yield of concentrate was less than two per cent of the original head sample. The crude oleic acid was found to be a better collector than the crude tallol, although neither one had much effect on the grade of the concentrate obtained. Sodium silicate had no beneficial action on the grade of concentrate, and with the crude oleic acid, it had a definitely deterrent effect. It was indicated that this was due to its coating the silica with a film of manganese dioxide, thus causing the silica to be collected as a particle of manganese dioxide. The sodium silicate was found to be useful in increasing the per cent recovery of concentrate. Pine oil, while not having any affect on the grade of concentrate, was effective in increasing the yield of concentrate. In general, an acid medium was found conducive to obtaining high grade concentrates, but this was more than offset by the low yields encountered. An alkaline medium was found to give the best overall recovery of the manganese dioxide. It was also indicated that the ore should be crushed through at least 35 mesh, and preferably 65 mesh, in order to obtain the greatest recovery. / Master of Science

M.S.

No description available.

No description available.

Phylogenetic hybridization and phenotypic fingerprinting were applied to the analysis of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment systems. These approaches were aimed at (i) developing monitoring tools able to foresee operational problems, and (ii) providing the rationale to optimize the operation of bioreactors. The work presented is intended to first describe the community found in two reactors treating pulp and paper mill effluent, and second evaluate the possibilities of these techniques with respect to the development of new monitoring tools. / Phylogenetic membrane hybridization showed that the bacterial communities were dominated by Alpha and Beta Proteobacteria, a structure probably linked to the low F:M ratio. Other important factors determining the community structure were the proportion of COD in the high molecular weight fraction, the sludge age, phosphate addition, and the concentration of specific compounds (alcohols, phenols, volatile fatty acids) in the influent. The community structure partly determined the sludge characteristics demonstrating its potential value in the assessment of reactor performance. The results obtained by phylogenetic membrane hybridization suggest that the probes used in a monitoring tool would not need to be targeted to the species level to provide relevant information. However, they also suggest that the technique is more sensitive to changes in population density as opposed to changes in bacterial metabolism. / Phenotypic fingerprinting measured a smaller difference between the communities of the two reactors studied than what was measured by phylogenetic membrane hybridization. However, differences in heterotrophic activities observed between the two communities were linked to differences in influent composition.