SOLAR OXIDATION OF AN INTEGRATED WOOD INDUSTRY WASTEWATER

In this paper, as an advanced oxidation treatment, the Fe(III)/H2O2/Solar-UV process was applied to an integrated wood industry wastewater (IWI) in Turkey. The statistics-based experimental design with response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the effects of operational conditions on the photocatalytic oxidation of the IWI wastewater. Considering the vast number of the obtained experimental data a correlative approach was employed for the assessment of the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) using an empirical method for the optimization of the key parameters such as photocatalyst dose, oxidant concentration and flowrate. The results of this study revealed that the regression analysis showed a close fit (r2>0.95) between the experimental results and the model predictions. Organic matter removal was monitored throughout the operation period. The maximum reduction in the TOC concentration was 79% with the addition of 2450mg/L H2O2 and 0.5mM Fe(III) at a 80L/h flowrate after 8 hours of exposure to solar irradiation. As a results of the kinetic studies the maximum k(true), value was 1.48 min(-1) and the r(2) was 0.90.