REDUCTION OF COD IN WASTEWATER FROM A TEXTILE INDUSTRY BY ELECTRO-FENTON PROCESS

Advanced oxidation processes (AOP(5)) have led the way in the treatment of aqueous waste and are rapidly becoming the chosen technology for many applications. In this paper, COD reduction potential of textile industry wastewaters by electro-Fenton (EF) oxidation, as one of the AOPs, was experimentally evaluated. The wastewater sample was taken from an outlet of an equalization basin of a textile industry in Marmara Region in Turkey. Chemical oxygen demand of textile wastewater was 590 mg/L. Treatment of the wastewater was carried out by an electrochemical batch reactor equipped with two iron electrodes which were connected parallel to each other. In this study, EF trials for different H2O2 doses (313, 626, 940, and 1253 mg/L which are equal to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the theoretical H202 dose, respectively.) were performed (electrical power: 24.0W as 0.75 A and 31.5 V. pH=3.0). In each case, electricity consumption for decreased COD mass was estimated. According to experimental results, in a short period of time like 10 min, the optimum result in terms of the energy consumption and the chemical consumption of the dose of 313 mg H2O2/L, the efficiency of COD removal was 86%. Considering the discharge limit of the receiving environment, it is said that EF process can be used as an alternative treatment for the textile wastewaters.