Internal Micro-electrolysis Using Fe/C Material for Pre-Treatment of Concentrated Coking Wastewater

Abstract Untreated coking effluent presents a great challenge for sustainable development of the steel industry and environment preservation. In this study, an internal micro-electrolysis method using Fe/C materials was employed for pretreatment of real coking wastewater with high mass concentration. The Fe/C materials were prepared by Fe powder and graphite powder; and the characteristics of surface morphology, structure, composition of the synthesized materials were examined by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The effects of factors namely dosage of Fe/C material, treatment time, initial pH and temperature were investigated via chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phenol removal efficiencies. Optimal treatment efficiency was attained at pH of 4, Fe/C dosage of 40 g/L, treatment time of 360 minutes and temperature of 25°C. After the internal electrolysis process, the values of COD, BOD5, and phenol of the wastewater were 6500, 4850 and 0.1 mg/L, respectively.