• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.288-293
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• 2017

In this study, we report the industrial application of an efficient technology for the recovery of gallic acid from Chinese nutgall processing wastewater. The recovery of gallic acid by industrial scale extraction and stripping devices was performed, with tributyl phosphate as the extractant and kerosene as the diluent. The results showed that the theoretical extraction stage was four, while the theoretical stripping stage was two. A closed-cycle system was studied for the continuous countercurrent extraction and stripping, with a five-stage extraction device and a three-stage reflux stripping device. The results showed that the multistage extraction-stripping system could steadily run for a long period, the average gallic acid level in the raffinate was $0.85g{\cdot}L^{-1}$, and the gallic acid content recovered in the strip liquor was higher than $120g{\cdot}L^{-1}$. The average extraction yield of gallic acid was 94.14%. When the strip liquor was used as raw material for production, the average production yield increased by 8.64%. In addition, after extraction, the $COD_{Cr}$ in the wastewater decreased by 38.19%, and the biodegradability of wastewater improved by 1.6 times. This study provided a new impetus for the sustainable development of the Chinese nutgall processing industry.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2015

The industrial-scale biological treatment of Chinese nutgall processing wastewater was conducted with a $200m^3$ expanded granular sludge bed reactor and a $900m^3$ bio-contact oxidation reactor. The temperature of the two reactors was controlled under mesophilic conditions ($32-40^{\circ}C$), through changing the proportion of the dilution water, which was composed of steam condensation water and residual circulating water. The effluent COD, gallic acid, chroma, total nitrogen, total phosphorus levels and pH of both the expanded granular sludge bed and bio-contact oxidation reactors were monitored. In addition, the redox potential in the expanded granular sludge bed was recorded. The total COD removal efficiency was 87.257% when the influent COD concentration was $14\;251{\pm}3\;148mg/L$, and the ratio of wastewater: dilution water was 1:5. The removal efficiencies of gallic acid, chroma, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were 72.221%, 43.940%, 64.151% and 39.316%, respectively. The effluent pH increased in either the expanded granular sludge bed reactor or the bio-contact oxidation reactor during the operation. The redox potential in the expanded granular sludge bed varied between -367 mV and -435 mV. The results indicate that the combined process was suitable for treating Chinese nutgall processing wastewater.