Electro-Fenton technique associated with core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanoparticles-bentonite catalyst for pre-treating a super-pollutant industrial wastewater

2-Ethylhexanol unit (from a petrochemical complex) has a very pollutant wastewater in terms of COD which most of available techniques cannot treat it. According to the previous researches on this type of wastewater, electro-Fenton as an effective technique was chosen. Since this process appropriately performs in the acidic conditions and this is a problem for several industries, a core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanoparticles-bentonite catalyst was synthesized and applied to neutralize the operating pH. Several technical tests on the catalyst quality were successfully carried out. Design Expert software and ANOVA method were then used to design the electro-Fenton experiments and investigate the optimal conditions. The optimal conditions were found at pH of 6.98, reaction time of 59.22 min, current density of 51.34 mA/cm2, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio of 2.84, volume ratio of H2O2 to alcoholic wastewater of 1.19 ml/l and nanocatalyst dosage of 1.76 g for 93.87 % of COD removal.