Elimination of phenol from refineries effluents using electrocoagulation method

Abstract

Abstract The crude oil industry is a major source of water pollution because of huge volumes of refining effluents discharged into the aquatic environment. This effluent consequently consists of substances that causes harm to the aquatic environment and depletes the aquatic population due to depleted oxygen. This study investigated the application of various treatment procedures and materials to reduce the effects of refining process effluent on water. The current study proposes to employ the electrocoagulation (EC) method in the removal of phenol contamination from refining effluent utilising aluminium electrodes. Continuous flow studies have been carried out in order to remove phenolic chemicals from refinery effluent effects of experimental factors such as electrical current density (ECD), distances between electrodes (DE), and treatment durations (TD) while phenols were eliminated were examined. The results show that the EC method reduced the phenol level in petroleum refinery discharge. The EC unit decreased the phenol level by 57% using aluminium as electrodes. The-optimal removal efficiency was found at 120 TD with an ECD of 6 mA/cm2 and a DE of 20 mm.