Background and Objective: Olive Mill Wastewater (OMWW) is one of the most polluted sanitary wastewaters that its ineffective treatment will cause severe pollution of the environment. In this study, OMWW treatment wasinvestigated using combined electrocoagulation and novel advanced oxidation process.
Materials and Methods: Biodegradability, efficiency and kinetics of removal of turbidity and organic matter from the OMWW by applying the operational parameters of electrocoagulation such as current density (0-0.77 A/dm2), type of anode electrode, reaction time (0-45 min) were investigated. Various types of advanced oxidation processes were performed to determine the the efficiency of removal of TOC and kinetics and biobegradability.
Results: The optimum condition for removing turbidity, BOD, TOC and consumed Iron anode electrod in electrocoagulation were 78%, 57%, 72% and 583 mg/ per liter of wastewater, respectively. Thus, the kinetic of TOC removal was first-order and was 0.027 min-1. The TOC removal efficiency of pretreated OMWW in oxidation processes of US, H2O2, SOP, O3 / H2O2, COP, COP/US and H2O2/COP/US were measured as 8%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 61%, 68% and 75%, respectively. The highest biodegradability index (BOD/TOC) in the COP/US/H2O2 process was increased 1.5 times.
Conclusion: The advenced oxidation process of COP/US/H2O2 follwed by electrocagulation demonstrated an effective treatment of OMWW and improved its biodegradability. Therefore, this process can be used for efficient treatment of OMWW in olive and similar industries.
