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Detoxification of synthetic industrial wastewaters using electrochemical oxidation with boron‐doped diamond anodes
Author(s) -
Cañizares Pablo,
Sáez Cristina,
Lobato Justo,
Rodrigo Manuel A
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.1402
Subject(s) - chemical oxygen demand , chemistry , diamond , phenol , aqueous solution , electrochemistry , boron , anode , toxicity , environmental chemistry , wastewater , organic chemistry , electrode , environmental engineering , environmental science
Abstract The electrochemical oxidation on boron‐doped diamond (BDD) anodes of synthetic industrial wastewaters polluted with different aromatic compounds has been studied. This technology reduces significantly the organic load and the toxicity of treated aqueous wastes. The shape of the toxicity vs time curve depends strongly on the nature of the phenolic compounds, and especially on the substituent groups contained in the phenol molecule. For the oxidation of hydroxybenzenes a complex shape is obtained, with a plateau zone in the first stages of the electrolyses. This plateau zone is transformed into a maximum in the electrolyses of chlorophenols. In the case of nitrophenols, the toxicity index decreases at the same time as the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration, although the decrease in the toxicity is less significant than the decrease in the COD. All these toxicity profiles can be justified in terms of the nature of the intermediates generated during the electrolyses, but they cannot be directly related to the COD variation, which shows an exponential decrease. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry