Abstract:
This work was carried out to manage wastewater from biodiesel production plant by using 2-step process including biodiesel recovery by H₂SO₄ and electrochemical treatment using Ti/RuO₂ electrode. The results indicated that approximate 7% of biodiesel was recovered from biodiesel wastewater at pH2 in the presence of H₂SO₄. After the recovery process, greater than 13-24%, 40-74% and 87-98% of BOD, COD and oil were respectively removed. Consequently, remained wastewater was treated by electrochemical process. The results indicated that the optimum conditions was found at the current density of 4.28 mA/cm², initial pH of 2 and concentration of NaCl of 0.061 M. The concentration of all investigated pollutants were in the acceptable values of the government standard. In case of continuous process, the optimal condition was obtained at the flow rate 2 ml/min, but the concentrations of BOD, COD and oil were still higher than the acceptable values of around 84, 500 and 9.33 times, respectively.