Date of Graduation

5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Greenlee, Lauren

Abstract

Properly treated wastewater is necessary for water reuse and to avoid unnecessary impacts on the environment. The poultry industry utilizes large amounts of water for poultry processing. The need for innovative ways to treat organic contaminants in the poultry wastewater industry is especially necessary due to increased poultry consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected Americans would consume approximately 92 pounds of chicken per person in 2017.1 Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is currently used in poultry wastewater treatment, but DAF does not remove organic contaminants efficiently per effluent standards. Implementation of processes that degrade contaminants directly would benefit the poultry industry economically. Potential organic treatment options are nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) composites that activate persulfate to degrade contaminants by sulfate radical generation and boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE) electrochemical oxidation processes that mineralize organic content through hydroxyl radical electro-generation. These processes have shown potential in decolorization of Orange G (OG) dye contaminant through UV/Vis spectroscopy and decreasing oxygen necessary for oxidation of OG through Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) testing. Standard and lyophilized 1:5 mass ratio nZVI/biochar composites showed decolorization and COD concentration decreases for 30-mintute experimental runs. 30-minute and 120-minute BDDE experiments utilizing a current density of 2-mA/cm2 and varying OG starting concentrations indicated potential for OG decolorization through azo bond breaking and decreased COD readings by OH radical oxidation of organic content. Ultimately, industrial poultry wastewater will be used to test organic contaminant degradation through both nZVI/biochar composites and BDDE.

Keywords

nanoscale zerovalent iron; boron doped diamond electrodes; orange g; organic contaminants; degradation

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