Investigation on pretreatment of centrifugal mother liquid produced in the production of polyvinyl chloride by air-Fenton technique

Centrifugal mother liquid (CML) is one of the main sources of wastewater produced during the production of polyvinyl chloride in chlor-alkali industry. CML is a typical poorly biodegradable organic wastewater, containing many kinds of refractory pollutants. Specifically, it contains dissolved refractory polymers, especially polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which can pass though the biotreatment processes and clog the membranes used for further treatment. In this study, to ensure the CML applicable to biotreatment and membrane treatment, a novel efficient and mild technique, air-Fenton treatment, was employed as a pretreatment technique to improve biodegradability of the CML and to break down the polymers in the CML. Firstly, the technique was optimized for the CML treatment by optimizing the main parameters, including the dosage of ferrous sulfate, initial pH of the wastewater, H₂O₂]/Fe²⁺], aeration rate, reaction time, and temperature, based on removal efficiency of COD and PVA from the CML. Then, the optimized technique was tested and evaluated. The results indicated that under the optimized conditions, the air-Fenton treatment could remove 66, 98, and 55 % of the COD, PVA, and TOC, respectively, from the CML. After the treatment, biodegradability of the wastewater increased significantly (BOD/COD increased from 0.31 to 0.68), and almost all of the PVA polymers were removed or broken down. Meanwhile, concentration of the remaining iron ions, which were added during the treatment, was also quite low (only 2.9 mg/L). Furthermore, most of the suspended materials and ammonia nitrogen, and some of the phosphorus in the wastewater were removed simultaneously.