Enhanced photo-degradation of contaminants in petroleum refinery wastewater

In order to rise efficiency of the wastewater treatment in a refinery plant, several oxidation experiments were done, testing their applicability as an additional pretreatment method. The influence of treatment with low concentrations of H2O2 combined with stirring and UV light on degradation of organic compounds present in the refinery wastewater was studied. Oxidation of the total petroleum hydrocarbons occurs at relatively low concentrations of H2O2, additional UV irradiation slightly accelerates the process due to the increased formation of hydroxyl radicals. 1,2-dichloroethane and t-butyl methyl ether degrade in the similar manner and except for the lowest H2O2 concentration used (1.17 mM), the reduction after 24 h is total. The degradation rate for dichloromethane is the lowest one, depending both on hydrogen peroxide concentration and the presence of UV. Its maximum reduction of 83% was obtained using the highest applied peroxide concentration of 11.76 mM.