Efficiency modeling of serial stabilization ponds in treatment of phenolic wastewater by response surface methodology

Abstract

Phenol is one of the dangerous organic pollutants in industrial effluents, and it has high toxicity and numerous environmental problems. Thus, there is a growing need for more studies on its removal. The goal of this research is to provide a statistical modeling, analysis, and optimization of the simultaneous impact of temperature and phenol concentration on the efficiency of stabilization ponds in treatment of wastewater containing phenol. The experiments were performed using two stabilization ponds at laboratory scales. The experiments were designed by using response surface methodology and Design-Expert software. According to the presented model, optimum removal rate of phenol is achieve when temperature and phenol concentration are 14.20° C and 109.58 mg/l, respectively. The results showed that the removal rate dropped with decreased temperature and increased concentrations of phenol. At 20 °C, by increasing the concentration of phenol from 40 to 130 mg/l, the removal rate dropped from 73 to 45%. Based on this research results, it can be concluded that the stabilization pond had a proper performance in removing phenol, and stabilization ponds can be an alternative for complex and expensive systems.