In this study, the use of ultra-violet (UV) light with or without iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for the degradation of synthetic petroleum wastewater was investigated. The IONPs was synthesised by sodium borohydride reduction of ferric chloride solution and was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), x-ray fluorescence spectrophotometry (XRF), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The amount of degradation was evaluated by chemical oxygen demand (COD) determination. Experimental results show that the COD removal from synthetic petroleum wastewater by IONPs/UV system was more effective than they were independently. The combination of UV light at a wavelength of 254 nm, pH of 8, and 1.0 g of IONPs resulted in COD removal from 10.5% up to 95.5%. The photocatalytic degradation of synthetic petroleum wastewater is about 1.3-2.0 times faster in comparison to UV light only. The removal of COD from synthetic petroleum wastewater by UV light and IONPs follows the pseudo-first-order kinetic model with rate constant k ranging from 0.0133 min-1 to 0.0269 min-1. Consequently, this study has shown that the use of UV light in the presence of IONPs is favourable and effective for the removal of organic pollutants from petroleum refinery wastewater.
Keywords: chemical oxygen demand; iron oxide nanoparticles; photocatalysis; refinery wastewater; ultra-violet light.