Abstract

MARTINEZ A, O. M; RAMIREZ F, J. H  and  TOLEDO R, M. L. Total organic carbon removal from a chemical lab's wastewater using Fenton's reagent. Ing. Investig. [online]. 2013, vol.33, n.2, pp.30-35. ISSN 0120-5609.

Treating industrial wastewater represents a serious problem nowadays; it requires a strong understanding of the particular systems and (in most of cases) ad hoc solutions. This work describes the use of Fenton's reagent (reaction between H₂O₂ and Fe(II)) for removing total organic carbon (TOC) from a particular chemical laboratory's lab-scale batch reactor wastewater. Some operating variables (hydrogen peroxide and ferrous ion concentration, temperature and pH) were evaluated regarding final TOC removal. An economic optimisation was made by means of a second order polynomial model representing these variables' behaviour regarding TOC removal (0.94 R2). The highest experimentally reached TOC removal was 88.8% at 50 mg/L [Fe(II)]0, 50 mM [H₂O₂]0 , pH=2.8 at 80oC, while 53.9% was obtained in optimised conditions, i.e. 36 mg/L [Fe(II)]0 , 45.5 mM [H₂O₂]0 , pH=2.6 at 20^oC. It was found that the Fenton process could achieve 41% removal, even in adverse conditions (pH close to 6). It was noted from the analysis that both H₂O₂ concentration and temperature had a powerful effect on organic matter degradation efficiency, as well as on total treatment cost.

Keywords : Fenton's reagent; advanced oxidation; laboratory wastewater; TOC removal.

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