Analysis of solar and artificial UVA irradiations on the photo-Fenton treatment of phenolic effluent and oilfield produced water.

In general, the oil industry has been searching for ways to alleviate the abundant disposal of oilfield produced water, which contains dissolved hard-removal and highly toxic organic compounds. Advanced oxidative processes (AOPs) have revealed to be effective in the degradation of organic compounds, because they generate hydroxyl radicals with high oxidizing potential which are capable of degrading these compounds. The present study has demonstrated the degradation efficiency of effluents containing organic compounds although the photo-Fenton process using a tubular photochemical reactor under different energy sources. This reactor allowed the use and evaluation of two ultraviolet irradiation sources, the sun and black light lamps, besides other relevant variables to the process, such as reagents concentration and the irradiated area, using a model effluent containing phenol. A sample of oilfield produced water was photochemically degraded through the optimum experimental conditions found for the phenol degradation. Solar irradiation was more efficient than lamplight, and it corresponds an important factor for the reduction of operating costs of this process. The solar reaction system applied to the oilfield produced water showed a removal of organic components up to 76%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]