Removal of Phenol from Aqueous Solution Using Internal Microelectrolysis with Fe-Cu: Optimization and Application on Real Coking Wastewater

Abstract

Fe-Cu materials were synthesized using the chemical plating method from Fe powder and CuSO4 5% solution and then characterized for surface morphology, composition and structure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The as-synthesized Fe-Cu material was used for removal of phenol from aqueous solution by internal microelectrolysis. The internal electrolysis-induced phenol decomposition was then studied with respect to various parameters such as pH, time, Fe-Cu material weight, phenol concentration and shaking speed. The optimal phenol decomposition (92.7%) was achieved under the conditions of (1) a pH value of phenol solution of 3, (2) 12 h of shaking at the speed of 200 rpm, (3) Fe-Cu material weight of 10 g/L, (4) initial phenol concentration of 100.98 mg/L and (5) at room temperature (25 ± 0.5 °C). The degradation of phenol using Fe-Cu materials obeyed the second-order apparent kinetics equation with a reaction rate constant of k of 0.009 h−1L mg−1. The optimal process was then tested against real coking wastewater samples, resulting in treated wastewater with favorable water indicators. Current findings justify the use of Fe-Cu materials in practical internal electrolysis processes.

Optimization, Kinetics, Thermodynamic and Arrhenius Model of the Removal of Ciprofloxacin by Internal Electrolysis with Fe-Cu and Fe-C Materials

“…The mixture was then washed several times with water and dried at 105 • C for 3 h under N 2 . The material was then stored in a desiccator for further study [27].…”

“…The specific surface area of the materials was analyzed by N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm (BET). The results are shown in documents [26,27].…”

“…This can be explained as follows: as the reaction time increases, the concentration of [H], Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ generated in the electrochemical reaction increases and the CIF content decomposed more. When the reaction time is too long, the CIP removal rate of the internal electrolytic Processes 2021, 9, 2110 6 of 13 material will be slower, possibly because a large amount of H + is consumed along with the increase in the reaction time, leading to a decrease in [H] and increased oxygen content in the aqueous material, which increased the amount of OH − participating in the reaction with H + , thereby reducing [H] [27]. Therefore, the time of 120 min was chosen as the optimal time for CIP processing.…”

“…Due to such a principle, the process of Fe-C and Fe-Cu microelectrolysis is also called internal microelectrolysis. Therefore, it is possible to dissolve iron without using an external current by establishing microbatteries in the form of Fe-C or Fe-Cu composite materials, which is an important advantage in the internal engineering of wastewater pretreatment electrolysis [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The reactions that take place during electrolysis are as follows:…”

Innovative Materials and Processes for Removal of Biopersistent Pollutants

“…A range of different but complementary topics were addressed, from environmental regulation [1] to the development of applications that can be useful in supporting decisions [2][3][4]. Furthermore, many studies analyzed how the modification of some materials can be effective for the reduction in pollutant dispersions [5][6][7][8][9] and the application of an innovative plant configuration [10].…”