Application of electro-Fenton process for medical waste sterilization plant wastewater

Sterilization at high-temperature water vapor is the most common method to make medical waste harmless before storage. Although it is microbiologically a very effective method, the effluent quality parameters of the wastewater from sterilization process do not meet the local or national standards. In this paper, we studied removal of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) of medical waste sterilization plant wastewater by electro-Fenton (EF) method. In addition, before the treatment studies, some experiments were also carried out to determine cathodically H2O2 production, which has vital importance to EF process. In the treatability study, anode and cathode configuration of the electrochemical cell were selected as platinum and graphite for Fenton's oxidation. Optimum parametric conditions for EF process were determined as initial pH (pH(i)) 2, 700mA current, 75mg/L Fe2+, and 0.2 L/min air flow rate, and at these optimum conditions 46.3% TOC, 27.7% TN, and 63.1% TP removals were achieved