Treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater containing furfural by electron beam irradiation

Abstract

In this study, the degradation of furfural (C₅H₄O₂) by electron beam (EB) irradiation in aqueous solutions and petroleum refinery wastewaters has been investigated. The influence of experimental parameters such as pH, initial furfural concentration, irradiation dose, and salt concentration on the efficiency of the technique was studied. A maximum degradation of furfural (>99%) was achieved with an irradiation dose of 6 kGy for model solutions of 100 mg L⁻¹ with pH value of 3; however, salt concentration variation had no significant effect on the efficiency of furfural degradation. The capability of proposed method was compared with that of two other methods of advanced oxidation such as UV/H₂O₂ and UV/H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ for degradation of furfural. The comparative results revealed the highest efficiency for EB radiation; this method was applied to two wastewater samples with satisfactory results.

Keywords:

• Electron beam irradiation
• Furfural
• Degradation
• Petroleum refinery wastewater

Acknowledgments

The authors express their appreciation to the Graduate Studies and Research Council of the University of Zanjan for financial support of this work. They are also grateful to Yazd Radiation Processing Center (YRPC) for irradiation services supplied; and wish to thank Dr H. Aliasin, from the English Department of the University, for proofreading the manuscript.