Combined Waste Air and Wastewater Treatment Plant for the Wood Panel Industry

Abstract

In the last few years there has been a dramatic worldwide growth in the production of wood panels and especially of MDF (medium density fiberboard). The environmental aspects of this development have just recently reached the focus of industrial interest due to increasing environmental requirements by the authorities. The development of a new process which should completely close all production site water cycles and minimize the exhaust of air pollutants is reported.

Optimization of a Photo‐assisted Fenton Oxidation Process: A Statistical Model for MDF Effluent Treatment

“…It is well known that solution pH is the most important factor that affects the hydroxyl radical generation capacity [9] and the formation of mono-and polynuclear complexes [24]. This is due to the fact that ferric iron undergoes hydrolysis in water to form Fe(OH) 2+ , Fe(OH) 2 + , Fe(OH) 2 4+ , Fe(OH) 3 and higher oligomers and insoluble polymers of iron oxide [25]. It seems that hexaaquo and hydroxopentaaquo ions are in the majority of compounds in the pH region around 3 [19].…”

“…The organic components of the effluent include celluloses, lignin and resin acids. The high COD and suspended solids content of MDF effluents mean that they cannot be discharged into sewers without treatment as this would have serious consequences to the aquatic environment as the recalcitrant pollutants could be toxic to marine life, and the organic material in the MDF wastewater would begin to decompose depleting the water body of oxygen [3]. For these reasons the environmental techniques used by the MDF industry are still a relatively new topic and mainly involve the treatment of wastewater similarly to thermal mechanical pulping wastewater (TMP) from pulp and paper industries [3].…”

Experimental and Modeling Study on the Removal of Mn, Fe, and Zn from Fiberboard Industrial Wastewater Using Modified Activated Carbon

“…Metal ions, such as calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, and iron, are naturally occurring components in wood [3]. The extraction of organic acids from the wood gives the wastewater a low pH of 5.5 [4]. Santos et al [5] detected several heavy metal ions from wood chip leachings such as copper, iron, and manganese.…”