Treatment of petroleum industry wastewater using TiO2 /UV photocatalytic process

Department of Petroleum & Petrochemical Engineering, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune-411 038, Maharashtra, India

E-mail : niraj.topare@mitpune.edu.in, nirajtopare06@gmail.com

Manuscript received online 09 July 2014, revised 01 August 2014, accepted 16 August 2014

In the present study, degradation of petroleum industry wastewater has been investigated through laboratory experiments by employing heterogeneous photocatalytic process. A photocatalytic reactor was used for the advanced oxidation. The industrial wastewater was characterized. Photocatalytic activity of semiconductor such as titanium dioxide (TiO₂ ) has been investigated. An attempt has been made to study the effect of process parameters through amount of catalyst, and operating pH on photocatalytic degradation of petroleum industry wastewater. The experiments were carried out by varying pH (2–11), amount of catalyst (0.25–1.5 g/L). Optimal suspended catalyst concentration, fluid pH and temperature were obtained at amounts of near 1 g/L, 3 and 50 ºC, respectively. The maximum rate of degradation was observed in acidic medium at pH 3 and maximum reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 60%.