Removal of phenolic compounds by electrooxidation method

Abstract

The present study envisages a method to remove phenol from the phenolic effluents by the electrooxidation under alkaline conditons. Synthetic effluent containing phenol (100 ppm) is subjected to electrolysis under various experimental conditions inorder to find out the optimum conditions for the removal of phenol. An electrolysis cell was designed with graphite electrodes and electrolysis was carried out under galvanostatic conditions keeping the total quantity of current at 0.75 A h. The reduction in concentration of phenol was analysed in terms of COD. Continuous electrolysis was also carried out at optimum conditions (current density: 4 A dm², phenol: 100 ppm and supporting electrolyte: 1M NaOH) to find out the maximum removal of phenol. The removal of phenol from phenolic effluents is found to be highly efficient to the extent of 98.55%. The electrooxidation of phenol at anode leads to the formation of carbon di‐oxide and water. The study reveals that, the phenol can be almost completely oxidised at the graphite anode with a maximum current efficiency of 17%. It is concluded that, the phenol can be removed from phenolic effluents effectively by electrooxidation method.