Treatment of pulp and paper mill effluent using low cost adsorbents: An overview

In the present review, the suitability of adsorption process using low cost adsorbent for the treatment of pulp and paper mill effluent has been discussed. It is clear that adsorption processes are appropriate for the removal of recalcitrant compounds such as surfactants and pesticides, among others biodegradable or non-biodegradable compound present in pulp and paper mills effluents. The importance of the  adsorption is to improvement of the  removal of various physico- chemical (biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour, suspended solids, lignin), heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ni and Mn etc) organochlorine compounds, all recalcitrant pollutant, reduce toxicity, enhance colour removal by using different cost effective adsorbents. The effective use of the different adsorbents developed from different adsorbent media such as activated carbon, agriculture by product and industrial wastes and sludge as adsorbents  for the removal of different pollutants from the various processes and operations of pulp and paper mill as potential alternatives to different treatment process and received widespread attention. Adsorption necessity is a novel treatment option to improve the efficiency of removal within the discharge limits of wastewaters into the receiving bodies without causing any damage of the environment. However, still there is a need to find out the practical usefulness of such low cost adsorbent at industrial scale with the special reference to metals

Removal of colour from alkali extracted wastewater of Pulp and paper mill using fly ash as adsorbent

The study aims to explore the beneficial use of fly ash and its effectiveness as low cost adsorbent for wastewater treatment of Pulp and paper industry. A comparative study was also carried out for the better colour reduction of industrial effluent using fly ash and commercial activated carbon. Batch mode adsorption experiments were carried out to optimize the different experimental conditions like adsorbent dose, contact time, rotation per minute (RPM) and pH. The treatment showed that the removal efficiency of colour increased to 86 % with the increase in adsorbent dose (0.5 – 10 g), time (30–240 min), RPM (50 - 150) and pH (4–12) of pulp and paper industry wastewater. The removal efficiency of activated carbon was found to be 100 % using 1 g adsorbent dose of commercial grade activated carbon. The Scan Electron Microscope (SEM) results of the fly ash showed that the particles looked like somewhat spherical large particles. It was concluded that though the activated carbon was very efficient adsorbent in comparison to fly ash, the better solution for disposal of solid waste such as fly ash can be good a substitute as the adsorbent for the colour reduction of the paper mill wastewater