Kinetics of pulp mill effluent treatment by ozone-based processes

The wastewaters generated from wood pulping and paper production processes are traditionally treated by biological and physicochemical processes. In order to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color to meet increasingly strict discharge standards, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are being adapted as polishing treatment units. Various ozone-based processes were used in this study to treat simulated wastewaters prepared from black liquor from a hardwood Kraft pulp mill in Taiwan. The experimental results showed that the COD and color were primarily removed by direct ozone oxidation and activated carbon adsorption. While the addition of activated carbon could enhance the COD and color removal during ozonation, the addition of hydrogen peroxide improved the color removal only. For the various ozone-based treatment processes, kinetic models were developed to satisfactorily predict the COD and color removal rates. According to the kinetic parameters obtained from the various ozone-based processes, the enhanced COD and color removal of ozonation in the presence of activated carbon was attributed to the regeneration of the activated carbon by ozonation. These kinetic models can be used for reactor design and process design to treat pulping wastewater using ozone-based processes.