Sonochemical Degradation of Pharmaceutical Wastewater |
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| Authors: | Ramalingam Sivakumar Karuppan Muthukumar |
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| Institution: | Department of Chemical Engineering, Alagappa College of Technology, Anna University Chennai, Chennai, India |
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| Abstract: | This study presents the influence of the addition of additives such as activated carbon, carbon tetra chloride, hydrogen peroxide, and potassium dichromate on ultrasonic reduction of pharmaceutical wastewater chemical oxygen demand (COD) under laboratory conditions. The addition of activated carbon increased the % COD reduction whereas the combined addition of activated carbon and H2O2/CCl4/K2Cr2O7 was found to show higher reduction. Among the various combinations investigated, the combined addition of activated carbon and CCl4 was found to be the best combination. However, the environmental and health problems associated with these chemicals limit the applicability of the process in an industrial level. Further investigation with this system showed that the initial pH and initial COD have significant influence on the removal rate. The data obtained were fitted with first order and Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic models. The values of the rate constants obtained indicated that the pharmaceutical wastewater can be treated efficiently by the proposed methods. |
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| Keywords: | Activated carbon Additives Kinetics Pharmaceutical wastewater Sonolysis |
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