Treatment of Wastewaters from the Olive Mill Industry Wastewaters by Sonication Process at Different Conditions

In this study, the effects of increasing sonication time (60 min, 120 and 150 min), increasing temperatures (25oC, 30oC and 60oC), different Dissolved Oxygen (DO) concentrations (2 mg/l, 4 mg/l, 6 and 10 mg/l), different N2(g) sparging (15 and 30 min) and H2O2 concentrations (100 mg/l, 500 and 2000 mg/l) was investigated on Olive Mill Industry wastewaters (OMI ww) by sonication process. The maximum removal efficiencies were 60.91% CODdis, 59.28% TOC, 49.70% color, 58.25% total phenol, 63.27% total aromatic amines (TAAs), 37.51% total fatty acids (TFAs), at 25oC and 150 min, respectively. The maximum removal yields were 66.83% CODdis, 65.92% TOC, 83.77% color, 61.24% total phenol, 70.52% TAAs, 48.84% TFAs, at 60oC and 150 min, respectively. The maximum removal efficiencies were 88.73% CODdis, 93.79% color, 91.38% total phenol, 91.58% TAAs, 74.44% TFAs, at DO=10 mg/l, at 60oC and 150 min, respectively. The maximum removal efficiencies were 84.51% CODdis, 91.88% color, 78.98% total phenol, 74.56% TAAs, 80.18% TFAs, at 30 min N2(g) sparging, at 60oC and 150 min, respectively. The maximum removal yields were 91.13% CODdis, 93.59% color, 93.65% total phenol, 83.68% TAAs, 90.30% TFAs, at 2000 mg/l H2O2, at 60oC and 150 min, respectively. Sonication at 35 kHz proved to be a viable tool for the effective removal of COD, TOC, color, total phenol, TAAs and TFAs from OMI ww, providing a cost-effective alternative for destroying and detoxifying the refractory compounds in OMI ww.