Treatment of Iraqi Petroleum Refinery Wastewater by Advanced Oxidation Processes

Iraq is facing a major environmental crisis due to oil-spills which polluted the Tigris River and caused many problems in the environment depending on the volume of the oil spilled. Therefore these problems need emergency solutions and one of the solutions is treatment using Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs). In this research the degradation of acidic aqueous solutions of the synthetic diesel oil water emulsion has been studied by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) using Fenton reagent (Fe²⁺/H2O2). The effect of different process parameters, such as pH, oxidant's dose (FeSO4/H2O2) and the reaction times on the removal of diesel oil were investigated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD). At an optimum concentration optimum of [H₂O₂] = 11×10⁻² M; [Fe²⁺] = 7.4×10⁻³ M, pH=3.5 and reaction time 60 min reduced COD 65% of diesel oil at [Diesel Oil] = 1300 ± 23 mg O2/L. The real oily wastewater was collected from Baghdad south gas power plant-2 and its composition is unknown. The treatment of this wastewater by Fenton oxidations under optimal conditions were removed 86% of the initial COD and 97 % of total petroleum hydrocarbons TPH of the oily wastewater.