Benzene Removal from Aqueous Solutions by Heterogeneous Catalytic Ozonation Process with Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

ABSTRACT The application of a heterogeneous catalytic ozonation process with magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles for the degradation of benzene in aqueous solutions was investigated by a Central Composite Design to optimize experimental conditions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for studying the significance and adequacy of the model. Four independent variables including pH (3–12), catalyst dose (0.1–0.5 g), ozonation time (5–50 min), and benzene concentration (10–200 mg/L) were transformed to coded values, and subsequently, second-order quadratic model was built to predict the responses. The ANOVA of the benzene degradation in solutions by COP/MgO nanoparticles showed an F-value of 48.76 for the quadratic model.