Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Electrochemical methods as one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), have been applied effectively to degrade recalcitrant organics in aqueous solutions. In the present work, the performance of electro-Fenton (EF) method using iron electrodes on the degradation of phenol was studied. Materials and Methods: In this study, a lab-scale EF batch reactor equipped with four electrodes and a DC power supply was used for removing phenol. The effect of operating parameters such as pH, voltage, H₂O₂ and initial phenol concentration and operating time were evaluated. We added H₂O₂ manually to the reactor while iron anode electrode was applied as a ferrous ion source. Results: It was found that initial pH of the solution, initial H₂O₂ concentration, applied voltages were highly effective on the phenol removal efficiency in this process, so that 87% of phenol after 15 min of reaction at pH=3.0, voltage 26 V and H₂O₂ 100 mg/L was removed. Phenol removal efficiency decreased with increasing pH, so that at pH 10, after 15 min, efficiency was 11%. To remove 99.99% phenol at pH 3, 100 mg/L concentration of H₂O₂ and voltage 26 V for 60 min was required. Conclusion: Electro-Fenton process using iron electrodes for phenol degradation and remediation of wastewater could be a promising process.