DI-(2-ETHYLHEXYL) PHTHALATE OXIDATIVE DEGRADATION BY FENTON PROCESS IN SYNTHETIC AND REAL PETROCHEMICAL WASTEWATER

Di-(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) belongs to the class of phthalate esters and is used as an additive in many products including plastics, paints and inks or as a solvent in industrial formulations. The degradation of DEHP in aqueous solution using oxidative Fenton reaction (H2O2/Fe2+) was carried out in this study. It was found that H2O2 concentration, Fe2+ concentration, and pH were the three main factors that could significantly influence the degradation rates of DEHP. The highest degradation percentage (85.6 %) of DEHP was observed within 60 min at pH 3 in H2O2/Fe2+ system. The results of our study suggested that the concentration with 90 mg/L H2O2, 5 mg/L Fe2+, and 20 mg/L DEHP in the solution at pH 3 were the optimal conditions. The optimized reaction parameters were preceded for treatment of real wastewater obtained from a petrochemical plant.