Abstract

Purpose: Petroleum hydrocarbons have created numerous problems for water resources. The main objective of this study was focused on the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in treatment of effluent of petroleum contaminated soil washing operation. Methods: The AOP process in the present study was run with Fe2+/H2O2 (Fenton's reagent), Fe2+/H2O2/UV (photo-Fenton's reagent) and UV lamp (medium pressure mercury lamp, 400 W) in the batch-mode reactor at laboratory-scale. Results: Various parameters and optimized values which could maximize the removal efficiency of COD were: Fe2+ = 0.1 g/L, H2O2 = 1 g/L, pH = 3 and irradiation time of 120 min. Under the optimal conditions, the removal efficiency of COD and TOC were achieved 86.3 and 68 respectively. The results showed that the reaction of the oxidation of diesel fuel by Fenton and photo-Fenton systems followed second-order kinetic model with reaction rate constants (k) of 7 × 10-6 and 3 × 10-6 l/mg min-1 respectively. Conclusions: The photo-Fenton process can be used as an effective and environmental friendly method in the degradation of petroleum organic compounds. © 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.