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Microbubble-aided water and wastewater purification: a review

  • Snigdha Khuntia

    From left to right: Pallab Ghosh, Snigdha Khuntia and Subrata Kumar Majumder.

    Ms. Snigdha Khuntia is a PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India under the joint supervision of Dr. Pallab Ghosh and Dr. Subrata Kumar Majumder. She is currently working on wastewater treatment using ozone microbubbles.

    , Subrata Kumar Majumder

    Dr. Subrata Kumar Majumder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His research interests are multiphase flow and reactor development, inverse fluidization, mineral processing, process intensifications and microbubble technology. He is a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and the Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers (IIME).

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    and Pallab Ghosh

    Dr. Pallab Ghosh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His research interests are interfacial phenomena at gas-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, gas-liquid and liquid-liquid reactions, vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibria and design of chemical process networks using randomized algorithms. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and a Life Member of the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE).

Abstract

Microbubble-based methods, in recent times, have been widely used for purification of water and wastewater. Microbubbles have several physicochemical properties, which make them eminently suitable for wastewater treatment. In this review, these properties have been analyzed in detail from the perspective of application. Various types of microbubble generators and their operation principles have been discussed. The transport of gas into the aqueous phase has been explained, and the correlations to predict the volumetric mass transfer coefficient have been presented. Many practical applications using ozone, oxygen and air microbubbles, some of which are currently at various stages of commercialization, have been presented. Other important uses of microbubbles for wastewater treatment, namely, removal of fine solid particulate matter and oil, have also been discussed. In addition, directions for future research of microbubble technology and their potential applications have been identified.


Corresponding author: Subrata Kumar Majumder, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, Assam, India

About the authors

Snigdha Khuntia

From left to right: Pallab Ghosh, Snigdha Khuntia and Subrata Kumar Majumder.

Ms. Snigdha Khuntia is a PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India under the joint supervision of Dr. Pallab Ghosh and Dr. Subrata Kumar Majumder. She is currently working on wastewater treatment using ozone microbubbles.

Subrata Kumar Majumder

Dr. Subrata Kumar Majumder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His research interests are multiphase flow and reactor development, inverse fluidization, mineral processing, process intensifications and microbubble technology. He is a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and the Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers (IIME).

Pallab Ghosh

Dr. Pallab Ghosh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. His research interests are interfacial phenomena at gas-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, gas-liquid and liquid-liquid reactions, vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibria and design of chemical process networks using randomized algorithms. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and a Life Member of the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE).

Received: 2012-6-6
Accepted: 2012-9-10
Published Online: 2012-12-05
Published in Print: 2012-12-01

©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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