Abstract
Contamination of groundwater sources due to the presence of chromium ions, a heavy metal, and the detrimental impact of it on the health of consumers have become a serious global concern. The present study was designed to understand the effects of three process variables, namely feed chromium concentration, feed pH and pressure, on chromium removal and permeate flux, by employing response surface methodology and central composite design techniques. Spiral-wound reverse-osmosis membrane was used for the removal of chromium from the groundwater samples in this study. Membrane performance, in terms of high permeate quality and flux, was evaluated by optimization of various operating conditions. The obtained experimental results were then matched with the predicted values obtained from the models. The models indicated that the highest chromium removal of 98.38% and permeate flux of 48.73 L/m2 h could be achieved at the optimum feed pH of 3.00, pressure of 4 kg/cm2 and feed chromium concentration of 0.431 ppm. Experimental validation confirmed that the model had higher predictive capabilities. The changes in pressure and the chromium concentration significantly affected the chromium removal and permeate flux, the former being positively correlated and the latter being negative to both the responses. Therefore, small-scale RO membranes can be used to treat aqueous solution with chromium contamination.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adeyemi AA, Ojekunle ZO (2021) Concentrations and health risk assessment of industrial heavy metals pollution in groundwater in Ogun state, Nigeria. Sci African 11:e00666
Aghilesh K, Mungray AA, Agarwal S, Garg MC (2021) Optimization of forward-osmosis performance with low-concentration draw solution using response surface modelling. Chem Eng Technol. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.202000453
Al-Alawy AF, Salih MH (2016) Theoretical and experimental study of nano filtration and reverse osmosis membranes for removal of heavy metals from wastewater. Int J Sci Res 6:778–788
Baird R, Bridgewater L (2017) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association, Washington D.C
Basaran G, Kavak D, Dizge N, Asci Y, Solener M, Ozbey B (2016) Comparative study of the removal of nickel(II) and chromium(VI) heavy metals from metal plating wastewater by two nanofiltration membranes. Desalin Water Treat 57:21870–21880
Bashir A, Malik LA, Ahad S, Manzoor T, Bhat MA, Dar GN, Pandith AH (2019) Removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous system by ion-exchange and biosorption methods. Environ Chem Lett 17:729–754
Box GEP, Draper NR (1987) Empirical model-building and response surfaces. Wiley
World Health O (2020) Chromium in drinking-water. World Health Organization
Çimen A (2015) Removal of chromium from wastewater by reverse osmosis. Russ J Phys Chem A 89:1238–1243
Coyte RM, Mckinley KL, Jiang S, Karr J, Dwyer GS, Keyworth AJ, Davis CC, Kondash AJ, Vengosh A (2020) Occurrence and distribution of hexavalent chromium in groundwater from North Carolina, USA. Sci Total Environ 711:135135
de Rossi A, Rigon MR, Zaparoli M, Braido RD, Colla LM, Dotto GL, Piccin JS (2018) Chromium (VI) biosorption by Saccharomyces cerevisiae subjected to chemical and thermal treatments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:19179–19186
Edokpayi JN, Enitan AM, Mutileni N, Odiyo JO (2018) Evaluation of water quality and human risk assessment due to heavy metals in groundwater around Muledane area of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Chem Cent J 12:2
Garg MC, Joshi H (2015) Optimization and economic analysis for a small scale nanofiltration and reverse osmosis water desalination system. Water Supply 15:1027–1033
Garg MC, Joshi H (2017) Comparative assessment and multivariate optimization of commercially available small scale reverse osmosis membranes. J Environ Inf 29:39–52
Gasemloo S, Khosravi M, Sohrabi MR, Dastmalchi S, Gharbani P (2019) Response surface methodology (RSM) modeling to improve removal of Cr (VI) ions from tannery wastewater using sulfated carboxymethyl cellulose nanofilter. J Clean Prod 208:736–742
World-Health O (1996) Guidelines for drinking-water quality. 2nd edn, vol 2 Health criteria and other supporting information. WHO, Geneva
Guo H, Chen Y, Hu H, Zhao K, Li H, Yan S, Xiu W, Coyte RM, Vengosh A (2020) High hexavalent chromium concentration in groundwater from a deep aquifer in the Baiyangdian Basin of the North China Plain. Environ Sci Technol 54:10068–10077
Hafez A, El-Mariharawy S (2004) Design and performance of the two-stage/two-pass RO membrane system for chromium removal from tannery wastewater: part 3. Desalination 165:141–151
Hirata R, Suhogusoff AV (2019) How much do we know about the groundwater quality and its impact on Brazilian society today? Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia. 31
Hosseini SS, Nazif A, Shahmirzadi MAA, Ortiz I (2017) Fabrication, tuning and optimization of poly (acrilonitryle) nanofiltration membranes for effective nickel and chromium removal from electroplating wastewater. Sep Purif Technol 187:46–59
Standards BOI (2012) IS 10500: drinking water: specification (Second Revision). New Delhi, India: Bureau of Indian Standards
Jiang W, Joens JA, Dionysiou DD, O’Shea KE (2013) Optimization of photocatalytic performance of TiO2 coated glass microspheres using response surface methodology and the application for degradation of dimethyl phthalate. J Photochem Photobiol, A 262:7–13
Jiang S, Li Y, Ladewig BP (2017) A review of reverse osmosis membrane fouling and control strategies. Sci Total Environ 595:567–583
Mungray KA, Agarwal A, Ali S, Chandra-Garg J (2021) Performance optimisation of forward-osmosis membrane system using machine learning for the treatment of textile industry wastewater. J Clean Prod 289:125690
Kassem Y, Çamur H, Esenel E (2017) Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and response surface methodology (RSM) prediction of biodiesel dynamic viscosity at 313 K. Procedia Comput Sci 120:521–528
Kazakis N, Kantiranis N, Kalaitzidou K, Kaprara E, Mitrakas M, Frei R, Vargemezis G, Tsourlos P, Zouboulis A, Filippidis A (2017) Origin of hexavalent chromium in groundwater: the example of Sarigkiol Basin, Northern Greece. Sci Total Environ 593–594:552–566
Khalifa EB, Rzig B, Chakroun R, Nouagui H, Hamrouni B (2019) Application of response surface methodology for chromium removal by adsorption on low-cost biosorbent. Chemom Intell Lab Syst 189:18–26
Khayet M, Cojocaru C, Essalhi M (2011) Artificial neural network modeling and response surface methodology of desalination by reverse osmosis. J Membr Sci 368:202–214
Kim HS, Kim YJ, Seo YR (2015) An overview of carcinogenic heavy metal: molecular toxicity mechanism and prevention. J Cancer Prev 20:232–240
Koedrith P, Kim H, Weon J-I, Seo YR (2013) Toxicogenomic approaches for understanding molecular mechanisms of heavy metal mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Int J Hyg Environ Health 216:587–598
Marikkani S, Kumar JV, Muthuraj V (2019) Design of novel solar-light driven sponge-like Fe2V4O13 photocatalyst: a unique platform for the photoreduction of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. Sol Energy 188:849–856
Mishra S, Bharagava RN (2016) Toxic and genotoxic effects of hexavalent chromium in environment and its bioremediation strategies. J Environ Sci Health C 34:1–32
Montgomery DC (2006) Design and analysis of experiments. Wiley
Mnif A, Bejaoui I, Mouelhi M, Hamrouni B (2017) Hexavalent chromium removal from model water and car shock absorber factory effluent by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane. Int J Anal Chem 2017:7415708
Muthumareeswaran MR, Alhoshan M, Agarwal GP (2017a) Ultrafiltration membrane for effective removal of chromium ions from potable water. Sci Rep 7:41423
Muthumareeswaran MR, Alhoshan M, Agarwal GP (2017b) Ultrafiltration membrane for effective removal of chromium ions from potable water. Sci Rep 7:1–12
Ozaki H, Sharma K, Saktaywin W (2002) Performance of an ultra-low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane (ULPROM) for separating heavy metal: effects of interference parameters. Desalination 144:287–294
Piedra E, Álvarez JR, Luque S (2015) Hexavalent chromium removal from chromium plating rinsing water with membrane technology. Desalin Water Treat 53:1431–1439
Poonia T, Singh N, Garg MC (2021) Contamination of Arsenic, Chromium and Fluoride in the Indian groundwater: a review, meta-analysis and cancer risk assessment. Int J Environ Sci Technol 289:125690
Rastogi NK (2018) Chapter 13: reverse osmosis and forward osmosis for the concentration of fruit juices. In: Rajauria G, Tiwari BK (eds) Fruit juices. Academic Press, San Diego
Rad SAM, Mirbagheri SA, Mohammadi T (2009) Using reverse osmosis membrane for chromium removal from aqueous solution. World Acad Sci Eng Technol 3:348–352
Raza M, Hussain F, Lee J-Y, Shakoor MB, Kwon KD (2017) Groundwater status in Pakistan: a review of contamination, health risks, and potential needs. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 47:1713–1762
Saha R, Nandi R, Saha B (2011) Sources and toxicity of hexavalent chromium. J Coord Chem 64:1782–1806
Saleh HN, Panahande M, Yousefi M, Asghari FB, Oliveri-Conti G, Talaee E, Mohammadi AA (2019) Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk assessment of heavy metals in groundwater wells in neyshabur plain, Iran. Biol Trace Element Res 190:251–261
Schio RR, Salau NPG, Mallmann ES, Dotto GL (2020) Modeling of fixed-bed dye adsorption using response surface methodology and artificial neural network. Chem Eng Commun 14:1–12
Sen S, Nandi S, Dutta S (2018) Application of RSM and ANN for optimization and modeling of biosorption of chromium(VI) using cyanobacterial biomass. Appl Water Sci 8:148
Sharma SK, Petrusevski B, Amy G (2008) Chromium removal from water: a review. J Water Supply Res Technol AQUA 57:541–553
Shekhar S, Sarkar A (2013) Hydrogeological characterization and assessment of groundwater quality in shallow aquifers in vicinity of Najafgarh drain of NCT Delhi. J Earth Syst Sci 122:43–54
Singh R, Bhunia P, Dash RR (2019a) Optimization of bioclogging in vermifilters: A statistical approach. J Environ Manag 233:576–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.12.065
Singh R, Bhunia P, Dash RR (2019b) Optimization of organics removal and understanding the impact of HRT on vermifiltration of brewery wastewater. Sci Total Environ 651:1283–1293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.307
Srivastava AKA, Nair A, Ram S, Agarwal S, Ali J, Singh R, Garg MC (2021) Response surface methodology and artificial neural network modelling for the performance evaluation of pilot-scale hybrid nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system for the treatment of brackish ground water. J Environ Manag 278:111497
Taha A, Joshi H, Garg M, Manhee H (2021) Case study of evaluation ro desalination systems for potable water in Safwan, Iraq. J Geosci Environ Protect 09:158–181
Tao H-C, Lei T, Shi G, Sun X-N, Wei X-Y, Zhang L-J, Wu W-M (2014) Removal of heavy metals from fly ash leachate using combined bioelectrochemical systems and electrolysis. J Hazard Mater 264:1–7
Thilagavathy P, Santhi T (2013) Sorption of toxic Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions by using treated acacia nilotica leaf as adsorbent: Single and binary system. BioResources 8:1813–1830
Tziritis E, Kelepertzis E, Korres G, Perivolaris D, Repani S (2012) hexavalent chromium contamination in groundwaters of Thiva Basin, Central Greece. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 89:1073–1077
Wang Z, Feng Y, Hao X, Huang W, Feng X (2014) A novel potential-responsive ion exchange film system for heavy metal removal. J Mater Chem A 2:10263–10272
Wang H, Song X, Zhang H, Tan P, Kong F (2020) Removal of hexavalent chromium in dual-chamber microbial fuel cells separated by different ion exchange membranes. J Hazard Mater 384:121459
Wei X, Kong X, Wang S, Xiang H, Wang J, Chen J (2013) Removal of heavy metals from electroplating wastewater by thin-film composite nanofiltration hollow-fiber membranes. Ind Eng Chem Res 52:17583–17590
Wilbur S, Abadin H, Fay M, Yu D, Tencza B, Ingerman L, Klotzbach J, James S (2012) Agency for toxic substances and disease registry (atsdr) toxicological profiles. Toxicological Profile for Chromium. Atlanta (GA): Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (US)
Yadav V, Ali J, Garg Manoj C (2021) Biosorption of methylene blue dye from textile-industry wastewater onto sugarcane bagasse: response surface modeling, isotherms, kinetic and thermodynamic modeling. J Hazard Toxic Radioactive Waste 25:04020067
Ying Z, Ren X, Li J, Wu G, Wei Q (2020) Recovery of chromium(VI) in wastewater using solvent extraction with amide. Hydrometallurgy 196:105440
Yunus ZM, Al-Gheethi A, Othman N, Hamdan R, Ruslan NN (2020) Removal of heavy metals from mining effluents in tile and electroplating industries using honeydew peel activated carbon: A microstructure and techno-economic analysis. J Clean Prod 251:119738
Zheng S, Jiang W, Rashid M, Cai Y, Dionysiou DD, O’Shea KE (2015) Selective reduction of Cr (VI) in chromium, copper and arsenic (CCA) mixed waste streams using UV/TiO2 photocatalysis. Molecules 20:2622–2635
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi, India (Grant No. ECR/2016/001668).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Parveen Fatemeh Rupani.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karunakaran, A., Chaturvedi, A., Ali, J. et al. Response surface methodology-based modeling and optimization of chromium removal using spiral-wound reverse-osmosis membrane setup. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 5999–6010 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03422-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03422-y