Molecular weight distribution of pre-treated MDF wastewater

This study investigates the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of wastewater generated from a medium-density fiberboard (MDF) production facility to better understand the size and nature of organic pollutants and to identify suitable treatment methods. Sequential membrane filtration was performed using membranes with molecular weight cut-offs (MWCO) of 500, 150, 50, 10, and 1 kDa, and the filtrates were analyzed for key water quality parameters. Results indicated that 57% of the COD originated from particles larger than 1 µm, 72% from those larger than 0.22 µm, and 21.17% from fractions retained by the 1 kDa membrane, while only 6.43% was below this threshold after pretreatment. These findings demonstrate that the organic load in MDF wastewater is predominantly associated with suspended solids and high-molecular-weight organics. The hybrid use of microfiltration (MF) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes showed a potential to remove more than 90% of the high COD load, highlighting the feasibility of membrane-based treatment as an effective option for MDF wastewater.