Ozonation optimization and modeling for treating diesel-contaminated water

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Water Treatment Technologies
• Oxidation Processes

Background:

• Diesel contamination in water poses significant environmental risks.
• Conventional water treatment methods may not fully address petroleum hydrocarbon pollution.
• Ozonation presents a promising advanced oxidation process for contaminant degradation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of ozonation for treating diesel-contaminated water.
• To optimize key operational parameters for maximizing total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal.
• To model and predict TPH removal efficiency using response surface methodology (RSM).

Main Methods:

• Laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to assess ozonation effectiveness.
• A Box-Behnken design, a type of factorial design, was employed for optimization.
• Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to model the impact of pH, ozone flow rate, and contact time on TPH removal.

Main Results:

• Ozonation demonstrated high efficiency in removing diesel from aqueous solutions.
• The developed RSM model showed a high coefficient of determination (R(2) = 0.9437), indicating good predictive capability.
• Optimal conditions (pH 7.0, 1.5 degree of O3, 35 min) resulted in approximately 60% TPH removal, closely matching the predicted 57.28%.

Conclusions:

• Ozonation is a viable and efficient technology for the remediation of diesel-contaminated water.
• The study successfully optimized ozonation parameters, providing a foundation for practical application.
• RSM is an effective tool for modeling and optimizing advanced oxidation processes in water treatment.