Investigation of the Treatment of Olive Mill Wastewater by Electrooxidation

The electrooxidation process, one of the advanced oxidation processes, is one of the effective treatment processes used in treating various industrial wastewaters. This study investigated the treatment of olive mill wastewater using the electrooxidation process. This study includes the effects of different experimental parameters on chemical oxygen demand and total phenol removal efficiencies in olive mill wastewater. Ti/IrO2/RuO2 mesh plates as anode material and Ti mesh plates as cathode material were used in the study. The effects of stirring rate, dilution factor, pH, type of support electrolyte, the concentration of support electrolyte, and current density on chemical oxygen demand and total phenol removal efficiencies were examined in the experiments using a batch reactor. The study found that the chemical oxygen demand and total phenol removal rates were 96.93% and 100% under optimum conditions, respectively. According to the treatment data obtained, it can be said that olive mill wastewater can be treated by the electrooxidation method and can be proposed as a pretreatment system before entering biological treatment.