Research on treatment and mechanism of salicylhydroxamic acid flotation wastewater by O3-BAF process

Salicylhydroxamic acid is an effective and selective collector for tungsten and molybdenum ores. However, the salicylhydroxamic acid flotation wastewater discharge may cause damage to the water environment for the residual processing reagents with poor biodegradability. Combined O3 and biological aerated filter (BAF) has a well-known potential for removing refractory or toxic organic pollutants. Combined process of O3 and BAF (O3-BAF) was applied to treat the simulated wastewater from W-Mo mineral processing in this study. Compared single ozonation to O3-BAF, various influencing factors were discussed like O3 dosage, reaction time, initial pH value, gas–water ratio and organic loading. Meanwhile, degradation mechanism of salicylhydroxamic acid was reduced. Under the optimal experiment conditions as pH value 8, O3 dosage 1.3 mg·L−1, reaction time 15 min, the five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5)/chemical oxygen demand of potassium dichromate (CODCr) value increased to from 0.19 to 0.35. The effluent was pumped to the following BAF process, when the optimal experiment conditions was organic load = 0.82 kgCODCr (m−3·d−1), gas-water ratio = 6:1, CODCr concentration of effluent was 28.92 mg·L−1 and the removal ratio was 86.26%, while the removal ratio could higher to 91.12% for the O3-BAF combined process. The effluent could meet the discharge and reuse emission standards requirements in China. UV-vis absorption spectra and high performance liquid chromatography showed the degradation pathway of salicylhydroxamic acid by ozone oxidation was salicylhydroxamic acid → salicylic acid + hydroxylamine → catechol → maleic → small molecular organic acid → carbon dioxide + water.