Comparative Study of Organics Removal from Refinery Wastewater by Photocatalytic Fenton Reaction Coupled with Visible Light and Ultraviolet Irradiation

Abstract

The study investigates photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes using iron-doped zeolite catalysts in heterogeneous Fenton reactions to degrade organic contents as chemical oxygen demand. The research revealed that the heterogenous photocatalytic Fenton process was the most successful treatment method under acidic circumstances and generated a greater rate of chemical oxygen demand degradation in a concise amount of radiation time. Compared to the heterogenous Fenton process with ultraviolet irradiation, it increased oxidation and was affected by catalyst load, power of hydrogen pH, hydrogen peroxide amounts, and temperature. The findings showed that the iron-doped zeolite catalyst, pH, and temperature significantly degraded the chemical oxygen demand. The experiment determined that the optimal conditions were obtained at a catalyst load of 0.07 g, pH of 3, with 20% excess of hydrogen peroxide, 40 °C in 2 hours for the ultraviolet/ iron-doped zeolite/hydrogen peroxide system that gave 99.84 % of the removal of the chemical oxygen demand. The heterogeneous photocatalytic Fenton method accompanied the reactions by hydroxyl radical production, which quickly reached its maximal reduction.