CORN OIL REMOVAL BY ADVANCED OXIDATION PROCESSES IN COMPARTION WITH CASTOR AND COCONUT OILS
The AOPs advanced oxidation process has been studied in three ways: (UV/H₂O₂), Fenton, and Photo-Fenton in artificial water treating from vegetable oils. The corn, castor, and coconut oils emulsion were prepared and treated by AOPs. Several variables were studied: time, pH, mixing speed, temperature, the dose of chemicals (H₂O₂ & Fe2SO4.7H2O), and finally the oil concentration. The best conditions were obtained in several experiments where the Fenton and Photo-Fenton process operates in an acidic medium (pH = 3.5), while the UV/H₂O₂ process operates with the neutral medium (pH = 7). The optimum temperature for the Photo-Fenton and UV/H₂O₂ processes is 40°C, and for the Fenton process is 20°C. While there was an effect of mixing speed, higher efficiency was achieved at (1000 rpm) for the Photo-Fenton process and (500 rpm) for the Fenton and UV/H₂O₂ processes. Also, the H₂O₂ concentration was at (500 mg/L) for all processes, when the Fe2SO4.7H2O concentration for the photo-Fenton process = (50 mg/L), and for the Fenton process = (250 mg/L). Oil concentration = (1750 mg/L). Optimum conditions were applied to treat vegetable oils, the Fenton process gave a maximum removal efficiency of 95.2% for corn oil (COD 12800 to 610 mg/L), 94.5% for castor oil, while 57.5% for coconut oil after the total reaction time (180 minutes). The Photo-Fenton process gave removal efficiencies: 93% for corn oil (COD 12500 to 870 mg/L), 83.8% for castor oil, and 61.6% for coconut oil. The UV/H₂O₂ process gave removal efficiencies: 69.8% for corn oil, 32% for castor oil, and 23.4% for coconut oil after the total irradiation time. As real wastewater, the treatment was acceptable and achieved an efficiency of 44.7%, 89.2%, and 83.8% for the UV/H₂O₂, Fenton, and Photo-Fenton processes, respectively.