Evaluation of operating characteristics for a chabazite zeolite system for treatment of process wastewater at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Laboratory and pilot-scale testing were performed for development and design of a chabazite zeolite ion-exchange system to replace existing treatment systems at the Process Waste Treatment Plant (PWTP) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The process wastewater treatment systems at ORNL need upgrading to improve efficiency, reduce waste generation, and remove greater quantities of contaminants from the wastewater. Previous study indicated that replacement of the existing PWTP systems with an ion-exchange system using chabazite zeolite will satisfy these upgrade objectives. Pilot-scale testing of the zeolite system was performed using a commercially available ion-exchange system to evaluate physical operating characteristics and to validate smaller-scale column test results. Results of this test program indicate that (1) spent zeolite can be sluiced easily and completely from a commercially designed vessel, (2) clarification followed by granular anthracite prefilters is adequate pretreatment for the zeolite system, and (3) the length of the mass transfer zone was comparable with that obtained in smaller-scale column tests. Laboratory studies were performed to determine the loading capacity of the zeolite for selected heavy metals. These test results indicated fairly effective removal of silver, cadmium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead, and zinc from simple water solutions. Heavy-metals data collected during pilot-scale testing of actual wastewater indicated marginal removal of iron, copper, and zinc. Reduced effectiveness for other heavy metals during pilot testing can be attributed to the presence of interfering cations and the relatively short zeolite/wastewater contact time. Flocculating agents (polyelectrolytes) were tested for pretreatment of wastewater prior to the zeolite flow-through column system. Several commercially available polyelectrolytes were effective in flocculation and settling of suspended solids in process wastewater