The combination of coagulation, acid cracking and Fenton-like processes for olive oil mill wastewater treatment: phytotoxicity reduction and biodegradability augmentation

Abstract

Olive oil mill wastewater (OOMW) is one of the most important industrial wastewaters in the world due to high organic load and phenolic compounds. In this study, an integration of three processes including coagulation, acid cracking and Fenton-like was evaluated to treat OOMW. The performance of alum, ferric chloride and polyaluminum chloride was studied as coagulants. Among coagulants, ferric chloride showed the best results in comparison with the others. Coagulation process with FeCl3 removed 91.2% chemical oxygen demand (COD), 91.3% phenol, 98.9% total suspended solids and 99.2% turbidity at condition of pH = 6 and 3,000 mg/L coagulant dosage. Acid cracking process following the coagulation process with ferric chloride could slightly degrade organic compounds and provided suitable condition for the next process. Fenton-like process with zero valent iron (ZVI) was applied after coagulation and acid cracking. The optimal removal efficiency was achieved by Fenton-like process which was accomplished in condition of 7 g/L ZVI, 1,000 mg/L H2O2 and 180 min reaction time. The biodegradability of final effluent of this integration was improved significantly and biochemical oxygen demand5/COD value increased from 0.14 to 0.83. The results of germination tests revealed that phytotoxicity of the final effluent decreased.