Raw Industrial Wastewater Treatment Using Fenton, Photo Fenton and Photo Catalytic: A Comparison Study

Abstract

This work implemented solar TiO2 photocatalysis, Fenton, and photo-Fenton separately for treating raw petroleum refinery wastewater (PRW) in terms of its COD and TOC removal. The effect of irradiation and reaction time along with initial pH on the degradation profiles was assessed and compared. The experimental work then revealed that maximum removal efficiency of COD and TOC by solar TiO2 photocatalysis was 48.2 and 53.3%, respectively while photo-Fenton reached 54.1 and 59.1%, respectively. Photo-assisted process was found significantly better than dark mechanism, especially for TiO2 catalysis. In addition, employing acidic condition in the range of 3 to 5 in both photocatalysis and photo-Fenton processes resulted in the obvious improvement of pollutant degradation. Eventually, the kinetic study indicated that the degradation of COD and TOC is suitable to pseudo-first-order pattern by reaching high R2 values.