RT Journal Article
T1 Silica Removal from a Paper Mill Effluent by Adsorption onPseudoboehmite and γ-Al2O3
A1 Miranda Carreño, Rubén
A1 Latour Romero, Isabel
A1 Blanco Suárez, María Ángeles
AB Effluent reuse is a common practice for sustainable industrial water use. Salt removal is usually carried out by a combination of membrane processes with a final reverse osmosis (RO). However, the presence of silica limits the RO efficiency due to its high scaling potential and the difficulty of cleaning the fouled membranes. Silica adsorption has many advantages compared to coagulation and precipitation at high pHs: pH adjustment is not necessary, the conductivity of treated waters is not increased, and there is no sludge generation. Therefore, this study investigates the feasibility of using pseudoboehmite and its calcination product (γ-Al2O3 ) for silica adsorption from a paper mill effluent. The effect of sorbent dosage, pH, and temperature, including both equilibrium and kinetics studies, were studied. γ-Al2O3 was clearly more efficient than pseudoboehmite, with optimal dosages around 2.5–5 g/L vs. 7.5–15 g/L. The optimum pH is around 8.5–10, which fits well with the initial pH of the effluent. The kinetics of silica adsorption is fast, especially at high dosages and temperatures: 80–90% of the removable silica is removed in 1 h. At these conditions, silica removal is around 75–85%
PB MDPI
SN 2073-4441
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7470
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7470
LA eng
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad
DS Docta Complutense
RD 23 oct 2025