Application of response surface methodology to optimize degradation of polyacrylamide in aqueous solution using heterogeneous Fenton process

Abstract

AbstractResponse surface methodology was employed to investigate the individual and interaction effect of the independent variables on the degradation of polyacrylamide (PAM) in aqueous solution by heterogeneous Fenton process with Fe2+–Al2O3 catalyst. pH, catalyst and H2O2 dosage were chosen as independent variables, and the degradation of PAM was chosen as the response value. A predictive polynomial quadratic equation model was developed by ANOVA as well as analysing the response surface plots and their corresponding contour plots. Response surface analysis results showed that the chosen variables had important correlation with the degradation of PAM in aqueous solution. The optimum conditions of heterogeneous Fenton process were determined to be pH of 4.80, 0.82 g L−1 catalyst and 20.64 mmol L−1 H2O2, under which the degradation ratio of PAM (initial concentration 1000 ppm) reached 95.68%. The adequacy of the model for predicting the optimum response values was verified by the experiment effectively. A...