Abstract

Experimental results for selenium removal from oil refinery wastewater applying the electrochemical peroxidation process (ECP) using either graphite electrodes with iron nanoparticles (nZVI) or carbon steel electrodes with anodic iron dissolution (AD) on laboratory scale are presented. Operating parameters were: current density, iron-selenium molar ratio and treatment time. It was found that when applying ECP and nZVI, selenium removal reached 93%. On the contrary, when the ECP and AD process was applied, selenium removal only reached 64%. Therefore, the ECP process and use of iron nanoparticles could be a feasible technology to remove selenium from oil refinery wastewater.