Efluents purification by using nanoparticles in an automated process

The presence of heavy metals in wastewater has been increasing with the growth of industry and human activities, e.g., plating and electroplating industry, batteries, pesticides, mining industry, rayon industry, metal rinse processes, tanning industry, fluidized bed bioreactors, textile industry, metal smelting, petrochemicals, paper manufacturing, and electrolysis applications. Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater is of prime importance for a clean environment and human health. Different reported methods were devoted to heavy metal ions removal from various wastewater sources. These methods could be classified into adsorption-, membrane-, chemical-, electric-, and photocatalytic-based treatments. Electro-Fenton process is an emerging treatment technology for water and wastewater treatment. Electro-Fenton utilizes hydroxyl radicals to oxidize hazardous contaminants and is especially useful to treat recalcitrant compounds that are not easily degraded in conventional water and wastewater treatment plants. With the aim of reducing the level of heavy metals from contaminated water, this invention uses a combination of three Electro-Fenton processes in the presence of magnetic nanoparticles and separation in a magnetic field and then the use a 0.02 micron filter. In the electro-fenton method, using iron ion nanoparticles and aeration leads to the treatment of dye effluents and organic matter and phenol. In the next stage of purification, two magnets were used to purify iron ion nanoparticles (used in the previous stage) as well as water-soluble heavy metals. In the last step, we use a 0.02 micron filter to purify the smallest pathogens in the water, such as bacteria.