Operating characteristics and kinetic studies of surfactant wastewater treatment by Fenton oxidation

The present study is to investigate the treatment of surfactant wastewater by the Fenton process. The surfactants considered here were anionic alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS) and linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), both being widely used in the household and industrial detergents. Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of pH, amounts of ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and temperature on the surfactant removal. Chemical coagulation was also considered as an addition in improving the turbidity and dissolved Fe removal after the Fenton process. A first-order kinetic model was adopted to represent the Fenton oxidation of surfactant wastewater. The relation between the reaction rate coefficient and the ferrous sulfate and hydrogen peroxide concentrations and operating temperature was experimentally established using the test data.