Hybrid electrooxidation and adsorption process for the removal of ammonia in low concentration chloride wastewater.

The ammonia removal performance of a hybrid electrooxidation and adsorption reactor (HEAR) is evaluated. The influences of current density, chloride concentration, and packing particles for ammonia removal in HEAR were investigated, and the performance of HEAR under serials circulation was studied. Results indicated that ammonia removal efficiency achieved around 70 % under the optimal condition after 30-min electrolysis. The optimal condition was determined as current density of 10 mA/cm2, Cl-/NH4+ molar ratio of 1.8, and modified zeolites as particles. The ammonia adsorption kinetic and adsorption isotherm on zeolites fitted well with second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. Adsorption amount of ammonia on zeolites sampled at 30-min electrolysis achieved 2.4 mg/L, higher than 1.9 mg/L of zeolites at 20-min electrolysis, indicating that electrooxidation coupled with adsorption led to simultaneous ammonia removal and zeolite regeneration in HEAR. No decrease of ammonia removal efficiency was observed over several cycles with the electrooxidation treatment. The presence of free chlorine indicating ammonia removal in HEAR was due to the combined influence by adsorption and indirect electrooxidation. These results showed that HEAR was a prospective alternative as a tertiary treatment for wastewater with low chloride ions.