Treatment of Coke Wastewater: A Critical Review for Developing Sustainable Management Strategies

The 1980-2011 literature on treatment of coke wastewater towards evolution of a sustainable management strategy is reviewed. Most conventional methods like physicochemical, biological along with recently studied membrane-based treatments have been captured with the purpose of finding out the reasons behind continued environmental pollution from coke oven operations. An extensive list of various methods of removal of cyanide, phenol, ammonia and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from coke wastewater has been compiled and their removal capacities under various conditions have been presented along with highlighting and discussing the key advancement on the application of membranes. It is evident from the literature survey that chemical or biological treatments followed by membrane separations have the potential for the removal of the hazardous components of coke wastewater. However, there are hardly any reported studies on development of integrated treatment schemes that can turn coke wastewater into usable recycled water. This technology gap needs to be addressed quickly, as such a scheme will not only save on consumption of freshwater but will also protect surface water bodies from contamination by hazardous coke wastewater in the backdrop of severe shortage of freshwater.