Treatability studies were performed on oily wastewaters produced by petroleum and canning industries. Chlorine dioxide was used for the removal of phenolic compounds from these oily wastewaters. Most of phenolic compounds can be destroyed by chlorine dioxide within 15 minutes if CI02-to-phenol ratios of higher than 5.0 are provided. Factors such as pH, temperature, and COD have little effect on phenol removal. The effectiveness of chlorine dioxide treatment depends critically on the performance of the chlorine dioxide generator. High yields of chlorine dioxide generation can be achieved by maintaining the pH between 2.5 and 3.5, and by controlling the concentration of feed chemicals. For small treatment plants, chlorine dioxide treatment may be an economical process because no expensive equipment is required. / Master of Science

Thesis (Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / The biodiesel industry produces large volumes of biodiesel wastewater (BDWW) during the purification of crude biodiesel. This wastewater is characterised by high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), and fats, oils and greases (FOG) which in turn defines BDWW as a highly polluted effluent. The low nitrogen and phosphorous content of BDWW creates an unfavourable environment for the growth of microorganisms, thereby making it difficult to degrade naturally. Biodiesel companies discharge untreated non-compliant wastewater directly to the municipal sewer system. Treatment prior to discharge is a necessity since the disposal of untreated BDWW may raise serious environmental concerns (i.e. disturbance of biological ecosystems) resulting in penalties liable by non-compliant companies due to the implementation of the waste discharge charge system (WDCS) which is regulated by the industrial waste discharge standard limits in South Africa (SA). This study aimed to combine the advantages of the conventional anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) system with microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology resulting in an innovative technology used to treat high strength industrial BDWW at ambient conditions. Many studies have reported effective treatment of BDWW, however to date literature implementing an ABR equipped with MFC technology has not been reported. The main objectives of the study were to determine which parameters do not meet the industrial wastewater discharge standard limits, whether pH and carbon:nitrogen:phosphorous (C:N:P) ratio adjustments will suffice prior to treatment with the ABR-MFC, the maximum power density (PD) as well as to determine the treatment efficiency of the ABR-MFC.