The Treatment of Olive Oil Mill Waste Water (OMW) by Electrocoagulation

Abstract

The effective performance of electrocoagulation (EC) technique in the treatment of olive mill wastewater (OMW) has been investigated using aluminum electrodes. The electrocoagulation progress was followed by the measurement of COD, turbidity, color, suspended solids, pH, height of liquor, TDS, conductivity, electrode and energy consumption, temperature and the quantity of electricity used. The effects of operating parameters such as current density, initial pH, electrolysis time, and distance between electrodes (D), on COD removal efficiency have been investigated. It has been shown that the removal efficiency of COD increased with the increasing applied current density and coagulation time.The obtained results of treatment of OMW, showed that the effectiveness of the reduction of COD and color by electrocoagulation increased with time and D at a constant current density (i=23.55 mA/cm2), the effectiveness of treatment was also increased with decreasing D at a constant voltage (U=15 Volt).The BOD5 treated/BOD5 raw ratio of the electrocoagulated OMW increased to 2. The electrodes consumption was 0.11 kgAl/kg CODremoved and the specific energy consumed was 3.93 kWh/kg CODremoved. the pH of effluent increased during electrolysis treatment.

Keywords: Olive mill wastewater; OMW, Electrocoagulation; Aluminum electrode.