Physico-chemical treatment of soluble pollution

Industrial activities generate pollutant discharges that are heterogeneous in composition and contain insoluble substances (cf. article "Physico-chemical treatment of insoluble pollution") a large number of dissolved organic and inorganic compounds.

Biological purification processes, either aerobic or anaerobic, are generally used to eliminate soluble, biodegradable organic pollution.

On the other hand, waste containing non-biodegradable mineral or organic compounds, some of which are toxic, can only be cleaned up using physico-chemical processes which, depending on the specific factors of the pollution, include :

• techniques such as neutralization, oxidation-reduction, chemical precipitation, entrainment in a gas or vapor by degassing or stripping, and adsorption on activated carbon;

• Concentration methods using ion exchange, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis.

In this article, we will first develop the theoretical and technological aspects of the various processes, setting out the sizing criteria and the purification performance that can be achieved. We will then define the fields of industrial applications, describing examples of treatment plants used to purify waste in various branches of industry.

The complete study of the subject includes the articles :

• G 1 270 Physico-chemical treatment of insoluble pollution ;

• G 1 271 Physico-chemical treatment of soluble pollution (this article).