TREATMENT OF PHENOLIC WASTE WATER BY ADVANCED OXIDATION PROCESS

Abstract

In this work, I have investigated the results obtained for the treatment of Phenolic wastewater using Advanced Oxidation process. The studies are formulated on synthetically prepared phenolic wastewater (pollutant phloroglucinol). It is a highly resistant, toxic and carcinogenic pollutant which usually comes to water bodies from the pharmaceutical companies in huge quantities and due to its adverse affects, must be eliminated from the surrounding. Since, it is mostly non-biodegradable, so biological treatment methods fail in the treatment and hence on the basis of prior studies I have concentrated on chemical and physical treatment procedures. The techniques discussed here covers a wide scope of how wastewater can be dealt using various methods like ozonation, electrochemical oxidation, catalytic ozonation, fenton based wet peroxidation, photofenton system, photocatalysis, O3/H2O2/UV etc. Among various processes, the emphasis is being laid on the electrochemical oxidation method, considering it to be the most suitable process with respect to the various environmental and economic prospective. The tests were conducted to study the change in the efficiency of the removal of the pollutant (PG) and optimization of the physical parameters. The various physical parameters on the basis of which studies have been formed are current density (J) , concentration of pollutant (ppm), electrolyte type, dosage of the electrolyte (mg/L), area of electrode dipped (cm*cm) and time period of operation (minutes). The electrochemical oxidation treatment is investigated by using dimensionally stable anode (DSA) namely Ruthenium oxide coated titanium (RuO2/Ti). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is measured by a COD analyzer for a run of 150 minutes taken at equal intervals of 15 minutes. The process conditions which were heeded are current density (J), temperature, speed of stirring, area of electrode dipped, pH, colour and concentration of phloroglucinol (C). Parameters like current density, type of electrode, electrolyte dosage, time period, initial concentration, type of electrolyte are few parameters which influence the removal efficiency while other parameters like temperature, speed of rotation, distance between the electrodes does not have major influence.