Comparison of ozonation and aeration methods in removal of naphthalene from aqueous solution

Abstract

High molecular mass of naphthalene make it non-biodegradable and the biological methods for treated the pollutant are much time consuming. In this paper, two methods of ozonation and aeration are used to remove naphthalene. Because of the industrial wastewater has a great range of pH, in this study different concentrations of soluble naphthalene are placed in variable pH conditions, different contact times and changes in amount of aeration and ozonation. ANOVA results indicated a significant difference between two methods. The average removal of naphthalene by use of ozonation is 55 % and 37 % for aeration. As results, the best conditions that naphthalene are removed is in acidic environment with pH < 5 and with increased contact time to 15 minutes and the amount of ozonation and aeration was obtained 3 L/min. The results also indicated that ozonation is much effective method to remove high concentrations of soluble naphthalene in industrial wastewater.