IICT designs high-pressure membrane plant to treat industrial aroma chemicals
Hyderabad: A team of scientists from Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), have designed a unique effluent treatment plant for industrial aroma chemicals based on a high rejection hyperfiltration membrane technology, according to a statement from IICT here on Friday. Chief Scientist Dr. S. Sridhar and principal investigator and senior scientist Sugali Chandra Sekhar […]
Hyderabad: A team of scientists from Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), have designed a unique effluent treatment plant for industrial aroma chemicals based on a high rejection hyperfiltration membrane technology, according to a statement from IICT here on Friday.
Chief Scientist Dr. S. Sridhar and principal investigator and senior scientist Sugali Chandra Sekhar from the Membrane Separations Laboratory, designed the plant for the U.K. Aromatics Private limited, Boisar, Maharashtra.
The effluent is a condensate coming from a multiple-effect evaporator (MEE) and contains considerable content of total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, and color besides high chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels due to the presence of significant concentrations of aroma chemicals such as esters, flavors, and perfumes with smaller concentrations of toluene and cyclohexane solvents used in azeotropic distillation for isolation of the esters. The membrane is specifically developed at CSIR-IICT from hydrophilized polyamide which is more hydrophilic, chemically inert, with a thicker selective skin layer as compared to commercial membranes.
Operation at a high pressure of more than 25 atm (atmospheric pressure) provides greater impurity rejection, equivalent to that of seawater RO membranes.
Dr. Sridhar in the release said that the pilot plant has an operational flexibility across a permeate capacity of 1000 to 2000 liters per hour and removes TDS from an initial value of 1500 to 2500 ppm in the effluent feed to less than 100 ppm in the permeate water. A TDS rejection of more than 95 percent with an average COD removal of 75 percent is achieved at a permeate water recovery of 80 percent, the release said.
The pre-treatment assembly comprises coagulation, bag filtration, deep bed sand and activated carbon column, micron cartridge filter, antiscalant dosing, and pH correction. The 20 percent reject stream is recycled to the MEE for the next operational cycle to ensure zero liquid discharge (ZLD) as per PCB regulations.
According to Dr Sridhar, the capital expenditure for installing the plant is Rs 12 lakh, and the operating expenses is approximately 10 to 12 paise per litre of effluent treated. So far, 200 MT of effluent has been treated till date at the company, he added.
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