Chlorine As a Disinfectant in Water Treatment

Disinfection of treated water is a necessary process. For this, chlorine and its products are widely used. During the treatment process, chlorine is added to drinking water as elemental chlorine, sodium hypochlorite solution or dry calcium hypochlorite. When applied to water, each of these forms “free chlorine”, which destroys pathogenic organisms. If adequate water treatment is not readily available, the impact on public health can be devastating. Worldwide, about 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and about 2.4 billion people lack sanitation. As per WHO, 3.4 million people die from waterrelated diseases. Drinking water chlorination will remain a cornerstone of disinfection. This is because of the wide range of benefits provided by chlorine. However, alternative disinfectants including ozone and UV radiation are available, all disinfection methods have unique benefits, limitations and costs. So, an engineer has to consider all the pros and cons of a disinfectant method properly before deciding the one to adopt. Keywords: Disinfection, Gaseous Chlorination, Sodium Hypochlorite, Calcium Hypochlorite, Ultraviolet, Ozone, Chlorine dioxide

EFFECT OF RECYCLING OF ELEMENTAL CHLORINE FREE BLEACHING EFFLUENT TREATED BY ELECTROCOAGULATION ON PAPER PROPERTIES

This study aimed to determine the effect of recycling elemental chlorine free (ECF) bleaching effluent (D0EpD1 and OD0EpD1) after treatment through electrocoagulation under optimum conditions on paper properties. The effect of pH, current density, time and dose of electrolyte on the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color was studied. Maximum decrease in COD and color was found under optimum conditions (i.e., pH 7, treatment time of 30 min, current density of 29.16 mA/cm2, and 1 g/L NaCl). Under these optimum conditions, the reduction in COD and color was of 79.9% and 99.10%, respectively. The reduction in the strength properties of paper, caused by recycling, was found to be insignificant, but a decline of 2.11% for D0EpD1 and of 1.43% for OD0EpD1 in brightness was found. Using the electrocoagulation method to treat the bleaching effluent can prove to have valuable potential towards wastewater utilization, pollution control, and sustainable development of the industry.

Bleaching of bagasse-pulp using short TCF and ECF sequence

More than 70 % bleached chemical pulp is produced in India through elemental chlorine-free bleaching in which chlorine-based compounds like chlorine dioxide is a dominant chemical which generates chlorinated organic toxins harmful to the environment. Present studies demonstrate short sequence of bleaching combined with acid treatment, followed by pressurized oxygen delignification. It was found that efficiency of oxygen improved by adding hydrogen peroxide as an additive in oxygen delignification with subsequent treatment with ozone or chlorine dioxide as bleaching agents. It was observed that by using additive in ODL process, pulp can achieve 70±1 (%ISO) brightness. Reduction attains in kappa number 65–70 % as compared to 45–50 % in control oxygen delignification stage. Through AOpZ and AOpD bleaching sequences, full brightness achieved 84–85 (%ISO) without considerable loss in mechanical strength properties compared to DEpD sequence. A potential reduction in COD, color, and AOX was 28, 53.3, and 88 % respectively were observed in AOpZ short bleaching sequence compared to DEpD bleaching.

Minimizing the Chlorine Content in Bleached Sulfate Pulp for Sanitary Tissue products and Food Packaging

The increasing consumption of pulp for chemical processing, including production of sanitary tissue products and other medical products, food packaging, as well as fillers for food products leads to new requirements for the quality of raw materials. The task of improving the characteristics of pulp has become particularly acute in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic: the demand for disposable nonwoven materials in direct contact with the human skin has increased several times over. The elemental chlorine free (ECF) sulfate pulp bleaching process, which uses chlorine dioxide as a bleaching agent, dominates bleached pulp production worldwide. The chlorine-containing compounds formed as a result of bleaching pollute not only waste water, but also the product itself. In the near future, it is expected that paper products made with chlorine-based bleaches may be banned for the production of sanitary tissue products and food packaging. If the products of the pulp and paper industry do not meet international consumer requirements, the pulp market for these purposes may face undesirable results. The most promising direction of modernization the existing bleaching schemes, both in terms of the process consumption parameters and the quality of the produced pulp, is the use of oxygen-alkaline bleaching in the first stage. Determination of total and organically bound chlorine content in pulp materials in accordance with ISO 11480:2017 on the advanced plant has shown, that the introduction of bleaching schemes using oxygen-alkaline agents will ensure the recommended content of chlorine compounds while maintaining the necessary characteristics of pulp for the manufacture of medical and sanitary tissue products, food packaging. However, high quality of finished products that meet consumers’ requirements is possible only if the chlorine content is controlled at all stages of pulp production, since the quantitative indicators of this substance content remain close to the upper allowable limit. For citation: sofronova e.D., Lipin v.A., Dubovy v.K., Sustavova t.A. Minimizing the Chlorine Content in bleached sulfate pulp for sanitary tissue products and food packaging. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 186–195. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-186-195

Extension of a steady-state chlorine dioxide brightening model for Z-ECF bleaching of softwood kraft pulps

Earlier studies developed a steady-state model to predict the brightness and/or bleach consumption during the chlorine dioxide brightening (D1) of softwood pulps produced by conventional elemental-chlorine-free (ECF) sequences. This model relates the chlorine dioxide consumed to the brightness gains predicated upon an asymptotic D1 brightness limit, an incoming D1 pulp brightness, and an equation parameter (β11). The current investigation examines the application of this model to ECF sequences that use ozone delignification (Z-ECF). Literature D1 data from various Z-ECF bleaching studies, which investigated OZ, OD0/Z, and OZ/D0 delignification, were fitted to the model. The β11 parameter was found to be linearly correlated to the entering kappa number. Interestingly, this linear relationship was found to be identical to the relationships observed when modeling the D1 stage for conventional ECF and chlorine-based bleach sequences. Subtle differences in D1 brightening response in the model among the various bleach sequences are reflected by incoming pulp brightness (at the same kappa number). The current model is used to illustrate how alterations to Z-ECF delignification affect D1 brightening and chlorine dioxide consumption.

Efeito da extração alcalina na redução do número Kappa no branqueamento ECF

O estágio de hidrólise ácida (AHT), usado em sequências de branqueamento de polpa, tem como objetivo principal a degradação dos ácidos hexenurônicos, que estando presentes na polpa podem afetar sua alvura, reversão de alvura, entre outros. Apesar do benefício da utilização do estágio de hidrólise ácida, o pH desta etapa não é o mais adequado para a degradação da lignina, pois esta é mais reativa em meio alcalino. Portanto, o presente trabalho buscou estudar uma melhoria no processo de branqueamento pela adição de um estágio de extração alcalina após o estágio AHT, obtendo o melhor aproveitamento possível do estágio de dióxido cloro. Para este estudo foi utilizada polpa Kraft de eucalipto pré-deslignificada com oxigênio. Diferentes sequências de branqueamento ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) foram realizadas na polpa, sendo elas: D0(E+P)D1, AHTD0(E+P)D1, AHT/ED0(E+P)D1 e AHTED0(E+P)D1. Os resultados encontrados com a inclusão do estágio de extração alcalina simples após a hidrólise ácida apontam um efeito positivo na sequência de branqueamento, havendo uma significativa redução do consumo de dióxido de cloro. A inclusão da extração alcalina simples também possibilitou a redução do número Kappa e aumento na alvura, com uma redução de 0,3 pontos na média do número Kappa e aumento de 1,3% ISO na alvura, analisados após a extração alcalina com peróxido de hidrogênio da sequência OAHT/ED0(E+P)D1, se comparada à sequência sem extração alcalina simples.

Merging shuttle reactions and paired electrolysis for reversible vicinal dihalogenations

Vicinal dibromides and dichlorides are important commodity chemicals and indispensable synthetic intermediates in modern chemistry that are traditionally synthesized using hazardous elemental chlorine and bromine. Meanwhile, the environmental persistence of halogenated pollutants necessitates improved approaches to accelerate their remediation. Here, we introduce an electrochemically assisted shuttle (e-shuttle) paradigm for the facile and scalable interconversion of alkenes and vicinal dihalides, a class of reactions that can be used both to synthesize useful dihalogenated molecules from simple alkenes and to recycle waste material through retro-dihalogenation. The reaction is demonstrated using 1,2-dibromoethane, as well as 1,1,1,2-tetrachloroethane or 1,2-dichloroethane, to dibrominate or dichlorinate, respectively, a wide range of alkenes in a simple setup with inexpensive graphite electrodes. Conversely, the hexachlorinated persistent pollutant lindane could be fully dechlorinated to benzene in soil samples using simple alkene acceptors.

Chlorine dioxide bleaching of nineteen non-wood plant pulps

Bleaching of unbleached and oxygen delignified pulps from nineteen non-wood plants has been evaluated in elemental chlorine free bleaching. Chlorine dioxide charge (kappa factor 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25) and temperature (70 and 85 °C) in the delignification stage (D) were varied. Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) charge and temperature exhibited lower kappa number and higher brightness after alkaline extraction (EP) stage. High temperature ClO2 delignification (DHT) exhibited higher final pulp brightness. The final brightness of wheat straw pulp reached to 90 % after D0/DHT(EP)D1 bleaching, while banana pseudo stem pulp showed the worst bleachability. Residual hexeneuronic acid contents in final pulp from most of the non-wood plants were lower and exhibited 1–2 % higher pulp brightness in DHT process than D0 process. Oxygen delignified pulp and DHT process discharged lower COD load.