Electrochemical treatment of produced water using Ti/Pt and BDD anode

Abstract

The applicability of electrochemical oxidation (EO) to treat a real petrochemical effluent was investigated using a lab electrochemical cell and pre-pilot plant scale reactor with Ti/Pt and BDD anode materials. The efficacy of EO in treating a real effluent was determined and the reactors compared at different applied current densities (j = 15, 30 and 60 mA cm-2). The results clearly indicate that an electrochemical pre-pilot reactor removes more than 97% of dissolved organic matter applying 15 mA cm-2 at pH 6.0 and 25°C after 30 min of electrolysis, consuming 3.37 kWh m-3, and incurring a cost of around 0.57 USD m-3. The results obtained provide valuable information regarding the EO scaling-up process, aimed at applying electrochemical technologies to treat actual effluents on a real scale.