Study of flocculating effects of ozone on wastewater of woodworking enterprises

The sewer of woodworking enterprises in the construction industry are characterized by a high content of suspended and dissolved toxic substances, including phenol, and a high value of chemical oxygen consumption (COD). At the same time, some enterprises do not have their own local treatment facilities and need to develop their own integrated treatment systems. One of the effective methods for removing pollution is wastewater ozonation, used in three versions: flocculation with small doses of ozone (pre-ozonation) at the initial stage to remove suspended substances, oxidative ozonation and decontamination. However, methods for treating wastewater from wood processing plants using ozone have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, we investigated the flocculating effect of ozone in the process of cleaning the effluents of the plywood-plate mill, tested the effect of the dose of ozone during flocculation in the presence of a small number of coagulants VPK-402 and Kaustamine-15 on the concentration of suspended substances, phenol and COD value. VPK-402 and Kaustamine-15 – reagents of regional production, are low-toxic and are allowed for use in the treatment of even drinking water. The results of the experiments on the pre-ozonation of wastewater showed a high efficiency of this method, which allows reducing COD by 3.8 (VPK-402) and 2.3 times (Kaustamine-15), phenol content by 2.9 (VPK-402) and 1.9 times (Kaustamine-15), suspended content by 4.0 (ВПК-402) and 3.5 times (Kaustamine-15). The use of pre-ozonation makes it possible to completely abandon flocculants in the physicochemical stage of wastewater treatment. Coagulation-flocculation can be successfully carried out with ozone and coagulant in small doses of 2–5 and 40 mg/dm3 (VPK-402) or 50 mg/dm3 (Kaustamine-15), respectively, for 5 minutes. Physicochemical indicators of water quality improved compared to treatment with coagulant alone: COD decreased by 23%, phenol content by 55%, suspended substances by 22%. The use of ozone as a flocculant in the clarification of wastewater reduces the cost of reagents, prevents secondary contamination of water, and increases the efficiency of further oxidative treatment.