Iranian Journal of

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Formaldehyde is a toxic substance and harmful to human beings and the environmental health. Therefore, the effluents containing formaldehyde have to be efficiently treated before discharging into the environment. This study was aimed at investigating the efficiency of Electro-Fenton (EF) Process in pre-treating industrial wastewater containing high concentrations of formaldehyde.
Materials and Methods: The effect of the important operational variables including pH, current density, H₂O₂ dosage, and reaction time were evaluated on the degradation of 7500 mg/L formaldehyde using batch tests. The EFP batch reactor was consisted of a cylindrical glass column with 5.20 cm in internal diameter and 34.50 cm in height. Working volume of the reactor was 500 mL.
Results: The maximum formaldehyde removal was obtained at alkaline pH of 10, H₂O₂ concentration of 10 mM/min, current intensity 8.5 mA/cm2, and the reaction time of 6 minute. Furthermore, aerating the EFP cell could enhance the formaldehyde removal. Complete removal of formaldehyde was obtained under the abovementioned operational conditions.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the EFP is capable of reducing high concentration of formaldehyde (7500 mg/l) to the level suitable for biological post-treatment.

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Background and Objectives: Electro-Fenton process has been widely applied for dye removal from aqueous solution lately. Fenton's reagent is formed in the electrolysis medium through the simultaneous electrochemical reduction of O₂ and Fe³⁺ to H₂O₂ and Fe²⁺ respectively on the cathode surface. In this paper, COD reduction potential and decolorization of real textile wastewater were evaluated by electrochemically generated Fenton reagent process. This wastewater mainly contains non-biodegradable acidic dyes, which are highly resistant against conventional oxidizing agents.
Materials and Methods: Electro-Fenton process was carried out in an open and undivided cell in order to evaluate the removal of color and COD from real textile wastewater using graphite felt (cathode) and Pt plate (anode) at room temperature. The effects of current density, flow rate of air, electrolysis time, initial pH, and ferrous ion concentration were investigated for real textile wastewater.
Results: The results showed that the optimal experimental conditions obtained in electrochemical studies were as follows: current density=4.8 mA cm-2, pH=3, flow rate of air=1.5L/min, Fe²⁺=3mM and reaction time=160 min. Under these conditions, COD removal and decolorization achieved were 63% and 77.2% respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results achieved, electro-Fenton process can be used as a pretreatment for degradation of colored wastewater and refractory pollutants. Moreover, this feasible technology improves biodegradability of the textile wastewater.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Synthetic dyes represent one of the largest groups of pollutants in wastewater of dying industries. Discharging these wastewaters into receiving streams not only affects the aesthetic but also reduces photosynthetic activity. Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes such as Electro-Fenton process are low operational and have high mineralization degree of pollutants. In this study, we investigated affective factors in this process to determine the optimum conditions for dye and COD removal from aqueous solutions containing Reactive Blue 19 dye.
Materials and Methods: Synthetic samples containing Reactive Blue 19 dye were prepared by dissolving dye powder in double distilled water. and the the solution prepared was transferred into pilot electrochemical cell having two anode and cathode electrode made of iron and carbon. Electro-Fenton process was began by adding of Fe²⁺ ions and establishing electrical potential difference. After testing and at specified time intervals, each sample was collected from the pilot cell, and process performance was evaluated through measuring dye concentration and COD.
Results: Based on the results obtained, optimum conditions of Electro-Fenton process for dye and COD removal was determined. Accordingly, potential difference of 20 volt for dye concentration up to 100 mg/L and potential difference of 30 volt for dye concentration of more than 200 mg/L, reaction time 60 minutes, 0.5 mg/L of Fe²⁺ concentration and suitable pH for the maximum dye removal efficiency equaled 4 respectively. Under such conditions, the dye and COD removal was 100 and 95% respectively.
Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, it was revealed that Electro-Fenton process has significant ability in not only dye removal but also in COD removal. Accordingly, it was found that the effective parameters in Electro-Fenton process for removal Reactive Blue19 dye are electric potential difference, concentration of iron ions and electrolysis time.

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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.