Degradation of phenol and trichlorophenol by heterogeneous photo-Fenton process using Granular Ferric Hydroxide®: comparison with homogeneous system

Abstract

The decomposition of phenol and trichlorophenol (TCP) by using granular ferric hydroxide (GFH) as a photo-Fenton catalyst was investigated and compared with homogeneous photo-Fenton process. Experiments were conducted in a batch mode, duplicate for the degradation of phenol and TCP in the presence of solar light for both the processes. The effect of operating variables for heterogeneous photo-Fenton process like pH, peroxide concentration and GFH concentration on the degradation of the model compounds was optimized by univariate approach. The optimum conditions for the degradation of phenol and TCP were pH 3.0 ± 0.2, peroxide concentration 29.4 mM for phenol and 14.7 mM for TCP at GFH concentration of 0.5 g/500 mL. At optimum conditions, the mineralization efficiency of phenol and TCP by heterogeneous process was compared with homogeneous process. The mineralization efficiency for phenol and TCP was 96 and 86 %, respectively, for heterogeneous photo-Fenton process, while almost complete mineralization (~96 %) was observed for homogeneous process. In heterogeneous photo-Fenton process, longer reaction time was witnessed for complete mineralization of the compounds studied. Low molecular weight aliphatic acids like oxalic acid, acetic acid and inorganic chloride ion (in case of TCP) were observed during both the processes. In these processes, the reaction proceeds by hydroxyl radical (·OH) abstraction of the model compound studied. The mineralization of phenol and TCP obeys pseudo-first-order kinetics irrespective of the processes studied. The results indicate that GFH can be an effective heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst for the degradation of phenol and TCP.