Optimizing TOC and COD removal for the biodiesel wastewater by electrocoagulation

N. Pınar Tanattı,Abdil Özdemir,İ. Ayhan Şengil

doi:10.1007/s13201-018-0701-2

N. Pınar Tanattı, Abdil Özdemir + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-018-0701-2

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Journal: Applied Water Science	Publication Date: Apr 16, 2018
Citations: 17	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Sakarya University

Abstract

In this study, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the total organic carbon content (TOC) in biodiesel wastewater iron and aluminum electrodes arranged in a bipolar position. In the EC of the biodiesel wastewater, the effects of the supporting electrolyte, initial pH, electrolysis time and current density were examined. The results showed that the majority of the pollutants in the biodiesel wastewater were effectively removed when the iron or aluminum electrodes were used as a sacrificial anode. The highest COD and TOC removal efficiencies were successfully obtained with the iron electrode. COD removal efficiencies are 91.74 and 90.94% for iron and aluminum electrode, respectively. In the same way, TOC removal efficiencies were obtained as 91.79 and 91.98% for the iron and aluminum electrodes, respectively, at initial pH of 6, the current density of 0.3226 mA/cm2, NaCl concentration 1 g/L and 1 min of operating time.

Highlights

Increasing world population affecting the energy demand and requires more energy every other year
The raw biodiesel wastewater does not contain iron ions so chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon content (TOC) measured without centrifugation
Fe electrode is more effective for the removal of COD and TOC from heavily polluted biodiesel wastewaters

Summary

Introduction

Increasing world population affecting the energy demand and requires more energy every other year. This energy demand pushes the human to find different energy recourses such as solar energy or conversion of bio-waste to a biofuel. The researchers have been trying to develop an efficient way to produce biofuels as alternative fuel (Srirangsan et al 2009). An alternate fuel needs several criteria such as sustainability, biodegradability, non-toxicity, low sulfur compounds and low carbon monoxide production and aromatic-free emission profile. For each liter biodiesel production, approximately 0.2–3 L of biodiesel wastewater will be produced, and that needs to be cleaned carefully. Biodiesel production requires a robust method to purify the water from contaminants (Berrios and Skelton 2008)

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