Sensitized photooxidation of dissolved sulfides in water

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:82779

Brewer, T F; Curtis, J G; Marchand, E A; Adams, V D; Middlebrooks, E J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering

A byproduct of the enhanced recovery of petroleum is flood water that is often contaminated with soluble sulfides. The ability of methylene blue (MB) and riboflavin (RF) to sensitize dissolved sulfides for photooxidation was investigated. Both MB and RF were found to be effective sensitizers for the oxidation of sulfide in water. MB-dosed batch reactors consistently reduced initial sulfide concentrations of 100 mg/l to less than 10--15 mg/l in less than one hour under artificial lighting (91% sunlight corrected fluorescent tubes) at a pH = 10 and MB = 1mg/l. Preliminary experiments have shown approximately 80--85% of the removed sulfide is accounted for as accumulated sulfate. RF is also effective at enhancing the removal of sulfide, but experiments similar to those conducted for NM revealed that RF-dosed reactors required approximately 2--3 times longer to achieve sulfide removal comparable to MB (1mg/l), even with an RF concentration of 20 mg/l. The primary product in RF-sensitized photooxidation of dissolved sulfides is also sulfate, with approximately 75-80% of removed sulfide recovered as sulfate. First order plots of experimental data yield reaction rate constants of k = 0.0097 min{sup {minus}1} for RF, and k = 0.0273 min{sup {minus}1} for MB.

• OSTI ID: 82779
• Report Number(s): CONF-940789--; ISBN 0-7844-0031-8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
REMOVAL
SULFIDES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL