Winery and olive mill wastewaters treatment using nitrilotriacetic acid/UV-C/Fenton process: Batch and semi-continuous mode.

In this work, both red and white winery wastewaters (WW) and olive mill wastewater (OMW) were submitted to a treatment by Fenton-based processes (FBPs). The main aim was to evaluate the most efficient and economic process. Initial tests, resorting to a batch reactor, demonstrated that UV-C/Fenton (λ = 254 nm) was the most effective process. Operational conditions such as pH, HO and Fe concentrations revealed to have a superior influence within dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal as well as regarding the reactor's energy consumption. As a means to prevent iron precipitation, the addition of nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) was tested. With experimental conditions pH = 3.0, [HO] = 194 mM, [Fe] = 1.0 mM, [NTA] = 1.0 mM, radiation UV-C (254 nm), time = 240 min, the kinetic rate related with DOC removal showed a k = 0.0128 min > k = 0.0124 min > k = 0.0104 min and both the WW and OMW achieved the Portuguese legal limit values for wastewater discharge. Furthermore, comparative experiments were performed in a semi-continuous reactor, being that the results put in evidence that the concentration of HO added and the flow rate of reagents' addition (F) had a significant effect on the efficiency of the reactor. Under an optimum experimental procedure pH = 3.0, [HO] = 97 mM, [Fe] = 1.0 mM, [NTA] = 1.0 mM, radiation UV-C (254 nm), F = 1 mL min, time = 240 min, there were observed higher DOC removal kinetic rates (k = 15.20 × 10 min > k = 11.64 × 10 min > k = 11.57 × 10 min) and a cost ranging between 0.0402 and 0.0419 €/g.DOC. These results showed that semi-continuous reactors have the potential to be applied to large scale treatments, with low reagents consumption and reduced energy requirements.