morjchem Reading Tools

The production of olive oil, leads to the co-production of large quantities of olive mill wastewater (OMW). This waste has a high polluting power as well as a high antibacterial activity exerted, among others, by various phenolic compounds. In this study, the Fenton process using hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) as oxidant and ferrous ions (Fe²⁺) as catalyst was used to treat OMW. Box–Behnken design (BBD) based on the response surface methodology (RSM) was adopted to evaluate the effects of concentration [H₂O₂], concentration [Fe²⁺] and reaction time on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, phenolic compounds (PC) removal and the residual H₂O₂ level remaining in the solution. According to the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the three quadratic models that were developed using multiple regression analysis were reliable and successfully fit the experimental data with a high coefficient of determination R² ranging from 0,9969 to 0,9999. Optimal operating conditions based on the desirability function methodology were found to be [H₂O₂] = 13,79g/l (0,4mol/l), [Fe²⁺] = 0,55g/l (0,01mol/l) and reaction time = 5,73h. Under the values of these variables, COD removal of 88,70% and PC removal of 84,26% with no residual H₂O₂were predicted with a desirability value of 1.