DECLARATION AND APPROVAL OF SUPERVISOR

I have prepared this report with inputs from my supervisor. I have taken care of
the formatting as per the guidelines circulated. I have not copied any section from any
other report, website or article.

SIGNATURE OF STUDENT

Report entitled Extraction of Zirconium from Acidic Raffinate Stream using Tri-n-butyl
Phosphate is approved

SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

iii

ABSTRACT

This work deals in wastewater treatment for phenol removal using electrocoagulation
technique. Various parameters affecting the phenol removal efficiency have been
discussed here like pH, Conductivity of the solution, electrolysis time, current density,
initial phenol concentration, geometry of electrode and residence time. Each parameter
was optimized using experimental method treating 400ml of synthetic solution in each
run. With concentration of samples as 1mg/l, 10mg/l & 40mg/l of phenol, increasing the
electrolysis time from 30 minutes to 120 minutes showed increase in phenol removal
efficiency of the electrocoagulation technique. Conductivity of the solution was adjusted
using NaCl concentration, here it was kept at 2 g/l. Current supply was changed from 0.5,
1 and 3 A and voltage supply as 5 V and 9V for the experiments conducted. Phenol
concentration in treated water is detected by reacting 4AAP with phenol in the presence
of Potassium Ferrycyanide which gives reddish brown colour which can be detected
through spectrophotometric method. The pre evaluated calibration curve of absorbance
v/s phenol concentration helps in detecting the concentration of the treated sample.
Maximum efficiency of 86% phenol removal was achieved with 10mg/l phenol
concentration, Electrolysis time of 60 min, Punched electrode with 4 holes of 2mm dia,
Current Input of 3A, Voltage supply of 9V and Nacl concentration of 2 g/l. The efficiency
of electrocoagulation technique depends upon various parameters and this technique is
easy to simulate at lab scale so that it can be implemented at industrial scale with good
accuracy and applicability.
.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to My Supervisor Prof.
Ashok N Bhaskarwar, Department of chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi. Who provided me the opportunity to work in a wonderful research
environment and constant guidance in every aspect of this project work. His crucial
remarks, positive attitude and support made my M.Tech thesis project a joyous and a
good learning experience. It was an honor to have a chance of working under his
supervision and have been part of the pollution control lab, Chemical Engineering
Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
I would like to acknowledge the Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology, Delhi for giving me the chance to undertake this study. Also many thanks
to the Head of Chemical Engineering Department Prof. S. Basu for providing me all the
necessary laboratory facilities during my research.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my project assessment panel members, Prof.
S. Basu, Prof. A. K. Gupta, Dr. A. Shukla and Dr. Anil Verma for their constructive
suggestions and helpful discussions.
I would like to thank all the faculty members, laboratory and office staff of the Chemical
Engineering Department. I am grateful that I had Ms. Pramila, Ms. Manjari and Ms.
Shushma as my senior and labmates who always contributed in making the lab
environment healthy and positive.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE
ABSTRACT

PA
GE
iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

viii

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Wastewater Treatment and Techniques

1.2

Phenol

1.3

Scope and objective of the study

1.4

Organisation of the Report

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1

Phenol

2.1.
1
2.1.
2
2.2

Chemical and Physical properties of Phenol

Phenol as a hazard and its acceptable limits

Electrocoagulation theory

2.3

Factors affecting Phenol Removal efficiency

2.4

Phenol determination methods

11

EXPERIMETAL METHODS/MODELLING

3.1

Materials and Methodology

12

3.2

Experimental Part

12

3.2.
1
3.2.
2

Chemicals and analyticals

12

Electrolysis cell setup

13

3.3

Cost analysis

14

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

15

4.1

Effect of pH

15

vi
4.2

Effect of NaCl concentration

16

4.3

Effect of agitation speed

18

4.4

Effect of changing initial Phenol concentration

19

4.5

Effect of changing electrode material and electrolysis time

20

4.6

Effect of changing current density

21

4.7

Effect of temperature variation

22

4.8

Effect of geometry of electrode over phenol removal efficiency

23

4.9

Phenol removal efficiency variation is case of smooth and rough

23

electrodes.
4.10

Cost analysis

24

5.1

CONCLUSIONS

26

5.2

Scope for future work

26

REFERENCES
APPENDIX-A1: SYMBOLS

28
31

vii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO

TITLE

PAGE

2.1

Results of pollutant removal using

electrocoagulation technique

2.2

Comparison of results from Phenol

removal using different techniques

4.1

Data of electrode consumption and Cost

accrued for treatment using different type
of electrodes.

24

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO

TITLE

PAGE

3.1

Electrolytic cell setup

13

4.1

Different types of Aluminium Hydroxides

14

4.2

% Phenol Removal v/s pH of solution

15

4.3

pH Value vs electrolysis time

16

4.4

% phenol removal vs NaCl concentration

17

4.5

Salvation process of water

17

4.6

% Phenol removal vs agitation speed

19

4.7

% Phenol removal vs Intial phenol concentration.

19

4.8

% Phenol removal vs different electrodes for 60min.

20

4.9

% Phenol removal vs current input

21

4.10

% Phenol armoal vs temperature

22

4.11

% Phenol removal with no. of hole in electrode

23

4.12

%Phenol removal for smooth and rough surface

24

electrode
4.13

Electrode consumption with electrode type

25

4.14

Cost accruedvs electrode type

25

1
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Wastewater treatment and techniques

Chemical industries development is one the major consequence of this industrialization
which incorporates use and discharge of water in huge scale due to various operations
occur in an industry. This pollutes the water bodies by discharging hazardous chemical
into it and puts a burden over them to fulfill the water requirement of the ecosystem.
These chemicals impose adverse effects to the ecosystem hence to sustain in such an
environment there is a shear requirement of efficient techniques to remove those
hazardous chemicals from the generated wastewater.
Various techniques are available to treat the wastewater these are categorized in physical,
chemical, electrolytic treatment etc. One of the most prevalent forms of organic chemical
pollutants in industrial wastewaters is Phenol and phenolic compound. High
concentrations of phenol and phenolic compounds typically are found in aqueous effluents
of oil refineries, petrochemical, ceramic, and steel plants, coal conversion processes,
phenolic resin and pharmaceutical industries. Since phenol and its derivatives are toxic
and harmful to living organisms even at low concentrations, they are known as noxious
pollutants [5]. The most widely used methods for phenol removal from aqueous solutions
are adsorption, chemical oxidation, biological treatment, precipitation, distillation, solvent
extraction, ion exchange, membrane processes, reverse osmosis, and electrochemical
methods(Kulkarni & Kaware, 2013). However, these methods have some disadvantages
such as high cost, low efficiency, and generation of toxic by-products(Gouhua, 2004). On
the other hand, electrochemical methods have little or no harmful effects on the
environment and electrochemical reactions, they are more or less independent of the
conditions of the wastewater(Najel & Abbas, 2013;Saroha & Khandegar, 2013).
1.2 Phenol
An intense research has been going from last two decades on phenolic compounds, this
has resulted in the advent of the better water purification techniques for the preservation of

2
our environment from water pollution. Phenol is the common name of hydroxybenzene,
C6H5OH, an aromatic compound having one hydroxyl group attached to the benzene ring.
It is also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, phenylic acid, phenyl hydroxide or
oxybenzene. Phenol is produced both naturally and synthetically by chemical processes.
Naturally, phenol has been extracted from coal tar distillation. Synthetically, cumene
oxidation accounts for 95% of phenol production worldwide at a rate of 6.4 million metric
tons produced in 2001 (Jordan et al. 2002). Despite being toxic in nature phenol is used in
various applications, below are some important uses of phenol:
- Bisphenol A which is a resultant product of the condensation reaction of two moles of
phenol and one mole of acetone. It has wide uses in the production of polycarbonates,
ophthalmic lens and automotive components.
-

Phenolic resins are products of condensation of phenol and formaldehyde, they have
greater use as adhesives in the plywood industry and as plasticizers. They are also used as
disinfectants and in germicidal paints. Aminophenols are obtained from phenol which are
used in the manufacture of dyes and photographic applications.
-

Acetylsalicylic acid, a derivative of phenol, is used in the manufacture of aspirin.

Phenol has been selected as a model compound in this study because it is a common
pollutant found in the effluent of various industrial wastes including petroleum operations,
and phenol like compounds are produced in the degradation pathways of high molecular
weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
1.3 Scope and objectives of the study
Electrocoagulation is an alternative for the treatment of various kinds of wastewater, by
virtue of various benefits including environmental capability, energy efficiency, selectivity
and cost effectiveness. Electrocoagulation technique has good potential of removing
various impurities/pollutants from wastewater at low power consumption. The main
objective of the present study is to explore the potential of electrocoagulation for treatment
of industrial effluent having Phenol in it. The specific objectives are as follows:

To explore the potential of electrocoagulation for the treatment of industrial effluent.

To study operating parameters such as pH of the solution, current density, agitation

speed, electrolysis time, retention time, initial dye concentration, distance between the
electrodes and electrolyte concentration.

1.4 Organization of report:

Chapter-1 introduces the Industrial application of Phenol and its hazardous
effects. How phenol is harmful in water and what are the methods of its treatment. This
part suggests how Electrocoagulation can be an alternative for treatment of wastewater
having phenol in it. Chapter-2 discusses the literature on the theory of
Electrocoagulation its advantages over other conventional methods for treating
wastewater containing various impurities. This part also focuses on the parameters
affecting the removal efficiency of the technique. Chapter-3 tells about the materials and
methodology adopted to pursue this study. It also tells about Making of different
analytical reagents, wastewater treatment procedure using electrocoagulation and phenol
concentration detection method using spectrophotometry. Chapter-4 this part details the
analysis done in this project work and its outcomes. It entails about the relation of phenol
removal efficiency with different parameters and achieved optimized value of each
parameter with the help of graphical representation. In Chapter -5 this is the concluding
part of the thesis where the final outcomes and achievements are highlighted. This part
also suggests some precautions observed during the course of pursuing this study. In
Chapter-6 Future scope and aspects of Electrocoagulation technique has been discussed.
In this section some of the suggestins are madeso that better study can be conducted in
this field using modern techniques and tools. Last part of this thesis consists the various
journals and literature reviewed and cited to understand this particular field of study.

4
CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Water pollution by industrial effluents of chemical industries is a serious problem

in most countries. Increased industrial activities are contribution to more discharge of
effluent into rivers which is becoming the cause of depletion of clear water reserves.
Exposure to these discharged toxic substances can cause cancer, delayed nervous
damage, malformation in urban children, mutagenic changes, neurological disorders
etc(El-Ashtoukhy et al, 2013; Taghavi & Zazouli, 2012; Girih & Murthy, 2012).
Phenol and phenolic compounds are the major contaminant present in the effluent
discharged from the various chemical industrial processes such as wood preserving, metal
finishing, petroleum refining, leather tanning and finishing, paint and ink formulation,
pulp and paper industry, Textile Industry Pharmaceutical industry and manufacturing of
automobile parts industries (Nakhli et al, 2014; Kulkarni & Kaware 2013; El-Ashtoukhy
et al, 2013; Girish & Murthy, 2012)
2.1 Phenol
2.1.1 Chemical and physical properties of phenol: Phenol is a colorless, hygroscopic
crystalline solid at room temperature. Phenol is a White Crystalline Solid. It contains a
six-membered aromatic ring, bonded directly to a hydroxyl group (OH) having
chemical formula C6H5OH. Phenol is a hygroscopic, slightly acidic by nature. It has a
distinctive odour. Its molecular weight is 94.11, density is 1.072 and the boiling point
is 181.9C. Its other names are Carbolic acid, Benzenol, PhenylicAcid,
Hydroxybenzene, Phenic acid(Toxicological Review of phenol.EPA.2012;CAS No.
108-95-2.)
2.1.2 Phenol as a hazard and its acceptable limits: Intense exposure to phenol causes
disorders of central nervous system. Hypothermia, myocardial depression, burning
effect

on

skin,

irritation

of

the

eyes,

it

also

causes

gastrointestinal

disturbance(Toxicological Review of phenol.EPA.2012;CAS No. 108-95-2.). Central

pollution control board has prescribed a guideline for the minimum permissible level

5
for phenol in environment which is 0.1mg/l [Kumaran and Paruchuri, (1996); Nuhoglu