Performance Evaluation of a Combined Electrocoagulation– Electrooxidation Process for the Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Wastewater

Abstract

The present study investigates the application of a combined electrocoagulation-electrooxidation (EC-EO) process for the treatment of wastewater generated from Al-Dewaniya petroleum refinery plant in Iraq. The EC-EO process was examined in terms of its ability to simultaneously produce coagulant and oxidant agents by using a parallel plate configuration system composed of stainless steel plates as cathode and pair of aluminum and graphite plates as anode at two different current concentrations (1.92A/l and 0.96A/l). The results showed that the best conditions for treatment of Al-Dewaniya petroleum refinery wastewater using the combined approach were current concentration of (0.96A/l), current density of (12mA/cm2), NaCl concentration of (2g/l), pH of (7), and electrolysis time of (60 min). In this case COD removal efficiency (93.75%), phenol removal efficiency (96.20%), TDS removal efficiency (6.88%) were obtained with lower specific energy consumption (29.45 kWh/kg COD) and lower aluminum consumption (0.587 x10−3kg/h). The combined process showed to be better than EC process in term of COD and phenol removal efficiencies as well as aluminium consumption. In addition, it was better than EO in term of energy consumption. The combined process also gave buffering effect regarding to pH hence no need for controlling the pH during the operation.