Treatment of wastewater containing polyacrylamide using three dimensional electrodes

A method using three-dimensional electrode is applied to treat wastewater in oil fields, which contains polyacrylamide (PAM), for analogue. A best condition for electrolysis (I = 1.0 A, t=90 min, c=0.1%, m=980 g, =5 mm, d=5.0 cm) has been determined, under which the COD removal efficiency reached 96.0%, COD containing in wastewater reduced to 64.3 mg/L from 1 622.9 mg/L, the figure before treatment. Three categories of PAM-containing wastewater in production practice have been treated with the COD removal ratios being 87.5%, 82.4% and 84.7% respectively. Presence of H2O2 and "¢OH are detected by means of Ti(IV)-5-Br-PADAP technique and colorimetry respectively. The concentration is positively proportional to the COD removal ratio and increases in accordance with increment of time of electrolysis and current.