engleski

Degradation of Hazardous Organic Pollutant in Aqueous Solution by Chemical and Photochemical AOPs

There is a continuing need for the development of efficient and cost-effective technologies for the removal of hazardous organic pollutants from groundwater and wastewater [1]. Limitations of conventional wastewater treatment methods could be overcome by the utilization of alternative technologies, so-called advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). AOPs involve the generation of hydroxyl radicals, highly reactive and unselective species, in sufficient quantities to oxidize the majority of organics present in the water effluent. Common AOPs could be broadly classified into chemical (e.g. O3 and/or H2O2), photochemical and photocatalytic (e.g. UV/oxidant or UV/photocatalyst), mechanical (e.g. ultrasonic) and electrical (e.g. corona discharge) [2]. The investigations in the framework of present study were focused on the application of several UV- and/or ozone-based processes: UV, O3, O3/H2O2, UV/H2O2, UV/O3 and UV/H2O2/O3, for the removal of phenol as a model hazardous pollutant in wastewater, as well as the mineralization of phenol solution. Overall process efficiency was estimated on the basis of eco- and cost-effectiveness by measuring phenol removal using HPLC and mineralization degree using TOC analyzer, and by evaluating operating costs for each process, respectively. Among all investigated processes, UV/H2O2/O3 process was shown to be the most suitable process for phenol degradation with the highest rate of phenol removal resulting with complete phenol removal after 30 minutes treatment, the highest mineralization extent yielding 52.7 % TOC removal after a one-hour treatment and the lowest operating costs of 1.87 US$ per gram of removed organic content.

AOPs; phenol; UV; ozone; cost optimization

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