Removal of COD from Petroleum refinery Wastewater by Electro-Coagulation Process Using SS/Al electrodes

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In the present study, the effectiveness of a procedure of electrocoagulation for removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the wastewater of petroleum refinery has been evaluated. Aluminum and stainless steel electrodes were used as a sacrificial anode and cathode respectively. The effect of current density (4-20mAcm−2), pH (3-11), and NaCl concentration (0-4g/l) on efficiency of removal of chemical oxygen demand was investigated. The results have shown that increasing of current density led to increase the efficiency of COD removal while increasing NaCl concentration resulted in decreasing of COD removal efficiency. Effect of pH was found to be lowering COD removal efficiency when pH increased or decreased from pH=7. The best conditions were found to be a current density of 12mA/cm2, pH=7 and NaCl concentration of 2g/l at treatment time of 60 minutes, where a maximum COD removal efficiency of 96.8%, phenol removal efficiency of 64.7%, and total dissolved solid (TDS) removal efficiency of 20.6% were obtained at energy consumption of 29.12 kWh/kg COD. The results of the present work gave COD of 8mg/l which is lower than the standard limit for discharging petroleum refinery effluent. The electrocougulation was proven to be efficient and reliable technique for treatment Al-Dewaniya petroleum refinery effluent to get effluent with features in agreement with the standard limits for discharge to environment at lower cost.