Comparison of the Advanced Oxidation Processes in Phenol Degradation in Laboratory Scale

• Main Authors: Reza Shokoohi, Leila Ebrahimzadeh, Ali Reza Rahmani, Seyyed Jamaledin Ebrahimi, Mohammad Reza Samarghandi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Water and Wastewater Consulting Engineers Research Development 2010-01-01
• Series: آب و فاضلاب
• Subjects: oxidation; UV Radiation; phenol; Ozonation
• Online Access: http://www.wwjournal.ir/article_1625_ac782079bdc0936ef2a286af2d632f19.pdf
• ISSN: 1024-5936; 2383-0905

Phenol or Benzene hydroxyl, is a toxic aromatic hydrocarbon which finds its way into the environment and water resources as a serious environmental hazard in the effluent from a number of industrial processes. The objective of this investigation was to compare the efficiency of advanced oxidation methods with that of O3 and UV radiation in Phenol degradation. For this purpose, a reaction chamber with a capacity of 3 liters (laboratory scale) was used. A photolytic cell system with a 125W UV lamp was designed and manufactured. The ozone used in the reaction was produced at a rate of 1g/h in a COG-OM ozonizer before entering the reactor. A set of experiments was carried out at pH levels of 5, 7, 9, and 11 to investigate the effect of pH on phenol degradation rate. Samples were then collected for analysis by a spectrophotometer. Our findings show that phenol is degradable at a basic pH of 11 with ozone application and at an acidic pH of 5 with UV radiation. Using a 125 WUV- light source, phenol degradation after one hour was 32.4% while it reached 93.6% after the same period when using ozone. Due to their desirable health and environmental impacts as well as their high efficiency, advanced oxidation processes are expected to be a promising technology for the removal of phenol and other similar pollutants from water and wastewater.