Electrocoagulation Process Efficiency for Removing Effluent Pollution Caused by Drilling of Oil Rigs

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Water Science, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran

2 Department of Water Sciences, Water Science and Environmental Research Center, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran

10.34172/jaehr.2023.14

Abstract

Background: Electrocoagulation (EC) is a safe method for removing environmental pollutants without the need for additional chemical materials. This study investigates the performance of EC in removing chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity from drilling waste generated by oil rigs.
Methods: An experimental study was performed on a pilot scale in an EC reactor provided from a cylindrical glass cell (height: 30 cm and inner diameter: 5 cm), a pair of aluminum and iron electrodes, a power supply, an aeration system. wastewater Samples were collected from one of the drilling rigs in Khuzestan. The effect of current density, operation time and pH parameters on removal of COD, TOC, TSS and turbidity were determined and the optimal values of the parameters were determined.
Results: It was found that system voltage, operation time and pH values on the removal efficiency of pollutants were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The optimum values of pH, current density and operation time were obtained 7, 20 mA/cm2 and 60 minutes, respectively and the removal efficiencies of COD, TOC, TSS and turbidity under the optimum conditions were 72%, 79%, 67% and 63%, respectively. Also, the consumption of energy was estimated to be 8.4 kWh/m3.
Conclusion: The results indicated that the EC process is a cost-effective method in removing pollutants caused by drilling of oil rigs and its efficiency can be improved by applying optimal conditions such as current density and pH.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Shirzadeh N, Aliasgharzad N, Najafi N. Changes in enzyme activities, microbial biomass, and basal respiration of a sandy loam soil upon long-term exposure to Pb levels. Arch Agron Soil Sci. 2022;68(8):1049-61. doi: 1080/03650340.2020.1869214.
  2. Pooja K, Salkar VD. Review of studies on hardness removal by electrocoagulation. Int J Eng Res Technol. 2017;10(1):309-13.
  3. Elnenay AMH, Nassef E, Malash GF, Abdel Magid MH. Treatment of drilling fluids wastewater by electrocoagulation. Egypt J Pet. 2017;26(1):203-8. doi: 1016/j.ejpe.2016.03.005 .
  4. Ighilahriz K, Ahmed MT, Djelal H, Maachi R. Electrocoagulation and electro-oxidation treatment for the leachate of oil-drilling mud. Desalin Water Treat. 2014;52(31-33):5833-9. doi: 1080/19443994.2013.811113.
  5. Farhadian Babadi M, Masoudi F, Zarasvandi A. Environmental assessment of drilling wastes: wastes of well No. 449 in Ahvaz oil field (a case study). Adv Appl Geol. 2012;2(3):100-10. [Persian].
  6. de Medeiros AD, da Silva Junior CJ, de Amorim JD, Durval IJ, da Santana Costa AF, Sarubbo LA. Oily wastewater treatment: methods, challenges, and trends. Processes. 2022;10(4):743. doi: 3390/pr10040743.
  7. Akhter F, Soomro SA, Siddique M, Ahmed M. Pollutant removal efficiency of electrocoagulation method from industrial wastewater: comparison with other treatment methods and key operational parameters—a comparative study review. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2021;232(3):93. doi: 1007/s11270-021-05022-5.
  8. Abdul Aziz A, Asaithambi P, Daud WM. Combination of electrocoagulation with advanced oxidation processes for the treatment of distillery industrial effluent. Process Saf Environ Prot. 2016;99:227-35. doi: 1016/j.psep.2015.11.010.
  9. Moussa DT, El-Naas MH, Nasser M, Al-Marri MJ. A comprehensive review of electrocoagulation for water treatment: potentials and challenges. J Environ Manage. 2017;186:24-41. doi: 1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.032.
  10. Safari S, Azadi Aghdam M, Kariminia H. Electrocoagulation for COD and diesel removal from oily wastewater. Int J Environ Sci Technol. 2016;13(1):231-42. doi: 1007/s13762-015-0863-5.
  11. Nouri Alavijeh H, Sadeghi M, Khavari Kashani MR, Moheb A. Efficient chemical coagulation-electrocoagulation-membrane filtration integrated systems for baker’s yeast wastewater treatment: experimental and economic evaluation. Clean Chem Eng. 2022;3:100032. doi: 1016/j.clce.2022.100032.
  12. Haidari A, Bagheri Marandi G. Comparison The Ability Of Nano-Clays And Clays Extracted From Different Soils In Retention of Some Heavy Metals. Journal of Water and Soil Conservation, 2016; 23(3): 189-205. doi: 10.22069/jwfst.2016.3193.
  13. Mengistu LR, Samuel ZA, Kitila CD, Bayu AB. Comparison study on sonodirect and sonoalternate current electrocoagulation process for domestic wastewater treatment. Int J Anal Chem. 2022;2022:3477995. doi: 1155/2022/3477995.
  14. Emamjomeh MM, Sivakumar M. Review of pollutants removed by electrocoagulation and electrocoagulation/flotation processes. J Environ Manage. 2009;90(5):1663-79. doi: 1016/j.jenvman.2008.12.011.
  15. Zhao S, Huang G, Cheng G, Wang Y, Fu H. Hardness, COD and turbidity removals from produced water by electrocoagulation pretreatment prior to reverse osmosis membranes. Desalination. 2014;344:454-62. doi: 1016/j.desal.2014.04.014.
  16. Moussavi G, Khosravi R, Farzadkia M. Removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from contaminated groundwater using an electrocoagulation process: batch and continuous experiments. Desalination. 2011;278(1-3):288-94. doi: 1016/j.desal.2011.05.039.
  17. Mousazadeh M, Naghdali Z, Al-Qodah Z, Alizadeh SM, Karamati Niaragh E, Malekmohammadi S, et al. A systematic diagnosis of state of the art in the use of electrocoagulation as a sustainable technology for pollutant treatment: an updated review. Sustain Energy Technol Assess. 2021;47:101353. doi: 1016/j.seta.2021.101353.
  18. Bonakdari H, Ebtehaj I, Gharabaghi B, Vafaeifard M, Akhbari A. Calculating the energy consumption of electrocoagulation using a generalized structure group method of data handling integrated with a genetic algorithm and singular value decomposition. Clean Technol Environ Policy. 2019;21(2):379-93. doi: 1007/s10098-018-1642-z.
  19. Eaton AD. Standard Methods for Examination of Water & Wastewater. 20th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 1998.
  20. Bener S, Bulca Ö, Palas B, Tekin G, Atalay S, Ersöz G. Electrocoagulation process for the treatment of real textile wastewater: effect of operative conditions on the organic carbon removal and kinetic study. Process Saf Environ Prot. 2019;129:47-54. doi: 1016/j.psep.2019.06.010.
  21. Bayar S, Yildiz Y, Yilmaz A, Koparal AS. The effect of initial pH on treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater by electrocoagulation method. Desalin Water Treat. 2014;52(16-18):3047-53. doi: 1080/19443994.2013.800268.
  22. Maha Lakshmi P, Sivashanmugam P. Treatment of oil tanning effluent by electrocoagulation: influence of ultrasound and hybrid electrode on COD removal. Sep Purif Technol. 2013;116:378-84. doi: 1016/j.seppur.2013.05.026.
  23. Ghorbanian M, Mosavi SG, Hosseini Z. Investigating the removal of high turbidity from water by electrocoagulation. J Sabzevar Univ Med Sci. 2015;22(1):7-16. [Persian].
  24. Shahriari T, Saeb B. Assessment of effective operational parameters on dyeing wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation process. Pollution. 2017;3(3):517-26. doi: 7508/pj.2017.03.015.
  25. Esfandyari Y, Saeb K, Tavana A, Rahnavard A, Gholamreza Fahimi F. Effective removal of cefazolin from hospital wastewater by the electrocoagulation process. Water Sci Technol. 2019;80(12):2422-9. doi: 2166/wst.2020.003.
  26. An C, Huang G, Yao Y, Zhao S. Emerging usage of electrocoagulation technology for oil removal from wastewater: a review. Sci Total Environ. 2017;579:537-56. doi: 1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.062.
  27. Naje AS, Abbas SA. Combination of electrocoagulation and electro-oxidation processes of textile waste waters treatment. Civ Environ Res. 2013;3(1):61-74.
  28. Esmaeilirad N, Carlson K, Omur-Ozbek P. Influence of softening sequencing on electrocoagulation treatment of produced water. J Hazard Mater. 2015;283:721-9. doi: 1016/j.jhazmat.2014.10.046.
  29. Thirugnanasambandham K, Sivakumar V. Removal of ecotoxicological matters from tannery wastewater using electrocoagulation reactor: modelling and optimization. Desalin Water Treatment. 2016;57(9):3871-80. doi: 1080/19443994.2014.989915.
Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume 11, Issue 2
April 2023
Pages 112-118

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics