Wuhan Ligong Daxue Xuebao (Jiaotong Kexue Yu Gongcheng Ban)/Journal of Wuhan University of Technology (Transportation Science and Engineering)

Abstract : Water pollution resulting from industrial waste, toxic biological waste, and water resulting from the refining process of crude oil: all of these pollutants are dumped into the environment and have become one of the problems of the current era because they contain toxic organic and inorganic pollutants. In this study, work was done to reduce the percentage of one of the pollutants present in the oil refining process water of the Najaf refineries in Iraq, represented by the organic substance phenol (C₆H₅OH), where laboratory experiments were carried out using electrical methods represented by the processes of electrocoagulation (EC) and electrooxidation (EO), and these two processes achieved remarkable success in the process of removing dissolved phenol. The work was done using aluminum and graphite electrodes as a canopy for the electric cell and steel electrodes (S.S.) as a cathode for the cell made of resistant plastic. The initial concentration of phenol in the treated water was 50 ppm under the following conditions for both processes: electric current density (10, 15, 20) mA/cm², sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration (0, 1.5, 3) g/L, and acidity (pH) (3, 7, 10) with a constant time of one hour for the (EC) process and two and a half hours for the (EO) process. The results showed the elimination rate is directly proportional to high current density and sodium chloride concentration under moderately acidic conditions, where the optimum conditions for the removal process were (CD = 20) (PH = 7) and (NaCl = 3). A removal rate of 95.05% was achieved under the conditions mentioned.