Optimization and Economic Evaluation of Industrial Wastewater Treatment Using Electro-Oxidation Process

Electrochemical thechnologies have been investigated as the effluent treatment process for over a country. Its high oxidation efficiency, simplicity for operation and advantage of relatively small area requirement for installation make it a very attractive alternative to the conventional processes for treating organic pollutants. Refinery industry produces the wastewater generated during turnaround period contains very high concentration of organic pollutants and toxic compounds. This high-strength wastewater is rather difficult for treatment via conventional biochemical processes due to high concentration of organic pollutants, and it needs additional pretreatment system. In this work the removal of chemical oxygen demand(COD) from industry wastewater was investigated using electro-oxidation. First, the experiments were carried out under various operating conditions with actual industrial wastewater. COD removal efficiencies were compared considering current density, dilution rate, reaction temperature by using hastelloy cathodes and Ti/SnO₂-Sb₂O₅ anodes. Secondly, design and operating parameters of the process were optimized to maximize the efficiency of the pretreatment system. Lastly, economic evaluation such as return on investment(ROI) and payback period(PBP) was carried out.