Investigating the result of current density, temperature, and electrolyte concentration on COD: subtraction of petroleum refinery wastewater using response surface methodology

Abstract

Electrochemical oxidation (EO) investigated chemical oxygen demand (COD) subtraction from petroleum refinery wastewater (PRW) as a capable remediation process. Titanium substrates coated with iridium–tantalum oxide mixtures (Ti/IrO2–Ta2O5) were used as the dimensional stable anode (DSA). The Box-Behnken Design (BBD), a statistical experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM), was used to matrix the current density, temperature, and electrolyte (NaCl) concentration variables, with COD removal efficiency as the response factor. A second-order verifiable relationship between the response and independent variables was derived where the analysis of variance displayed a high coefficient of determination value (R2 = 0.9799). The predicted values calculated with the model equations were very close to the experimental values where the model was highly significant. Based on the BBD for current density, the optimum process conditions, temperature and electrolyte (NaCl) concentration were 7.5 mA/cm2, 42 C and 4.5 g/L, respectively. They were resulting in a COD removal efficiency of 99.83% after a 12-hour EO period.