Design Considerations and Control of Electrochemical Destruction of Phenol in Industrial Wastewater Using Flow- Through Porous Electrodes

Abstract

This thesis deals with the study of removal of phenol from aqueous solutions by electrochemical oxidation process where phenol present in several industr.ial wastes, has.deleterious effects on the quality of water. Anodic oxidation has been considered as a suitable means for phenols des1ruction. However, previous attempts were using packed bed batch reactors with circulating • anolyte did not yield enough data for the design of electrochemical cell and the economic evaluation in comparison with other common treatment processe"s. In the present study, experiments are carried out usmg a bench scale electrochemical cell incorporating a continuous flow through porous graphite electrodes. The effect of current, feed flow rate, phenol concentration, temperature, and acidity on outlet phenol concentration are studied. C02 current efficiency, cell potential, phenol removal efficiency, COD in outlet stream and power requirements are also investigated. It was found that, the outlet phenol concentration decreased with increasing current density and temperature, and increased with increasing initial feed concentration, anolyte flow rate, and pH. Design concepts and practical considerations based . on a simple mathematical model are discussed. Preliminary design of an industrial unit for the treatment of the phenolic wastewater discharged from El- Nasr Co. for Chipwood, Board, MDF panel factory - Sandoop is carried out. Preliminary cost analysis is presented and compared with other treatment processes such as . activated sludge process in terms of capital investment and operating cost.