Treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater by ultrasound-dispersed nanoscale zero-valent iron particles

Petroleum refineries release wastewater, which is rich in organic pollutants and cannot be treated easily. This study presents the treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater using nanoscale zero valent iron (NZVI) in the presence of ultrasonication. NZVI characteristics were analyzed using SEM and XRD. The influence of NZVI dosage and initial pH on % chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction was studied. From the results, it can be inferred that a dosage of 0.15 g/l and an initial pH are optimum for the effective degradation of effluents. The degradation data were found to follow first order kinetics. The results indicate that using NZVI in combination with ultrasonication is an efficient method for the treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater.