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Optimization of a primary gravity separation treatment for vegetable oil refinery wastewaters

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Abstract

Vegetable oil refinery wastewaters (VORW) are loaded with organic and oily matter, and cannot be decontaminated by conventional treatment methods. Pretreatment methods with the objective of decreasing oil and grease (O&G) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) content either generate hazardous byproducts or may be too costly. In this paper, it is demonstrated that gravity separation is appropriate as a low-cost primary treatment for VORW. The kinetics of the oil/water separation process was studied by measuring O&G and also COD concentrations over time in the aqueous bottom phase of two types of VORW left in quiescence. Removals after 24 h exceeded 90 % for O&G and varied between 58 and 90 % for COD. An empirical model was fitted to the experimental data with good correlation (r 2 > 0.975 for all datasets). Newton’s laws and Stokes’ law were used to predict the behavior of oil particles according to size. 3D surface plots were drawn to visualize how the time of removal of an oil droplet changed depending on its velocity, diameter and initial height in the separation column. A retention time of 30 min was selected as the optimum treatment in the separating column, thereby combining the advantages of short treatment time with high O&G removal (over 80 % in both wastewaters).

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by project PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2011, financed by FEDER through COMPETE—Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Financial support for this work was also provided by National Innovation Agency (QREN-National Strategic Reference Framework) under the HidroCork project “Utilization of cork wastes and byproducts for elimination of oils and fats from water”. A. Pintor acknowledges her Ph.D. scholarship by FCT (SFRH/BD/70142/2010). V.J.P. Vilar acknowledges Ciência 2008 Program (FCT).

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  1. LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering—Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Ariana M. A. Pintor, Vítor J. P. Vilar, Cidália M. S. Botelho & Rui A. R. Boaventura

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  1. Ariana M. A. Pintor
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  2. Vítor J. P. Vilar
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  3. Cidália M. S. Botelho
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  4. Rui A. R. Boaventura
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Correspondence to Rui A. R. Boaventura.

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Pintor, A.M.A., Vilar, V.J.P., Botelho, C.M.S. et al. Optimization of a primary gravity separation treatment for vegetable oil refinery wastewaters. Clean Techn Environ Policy 16, 1725–1734 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-014-0754-3

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