Development of a trickle bed reactor of electro-Fenton process for wastewater treatment

Abstract

To avoid electrolyte leakage and gas bubbles in the electro-Fenton (E-Fenton) reactors using a gas diffusion cathode, we developed a trickle bed cathode by coating a layer composed of carbon black and polytetrafluoroethylene (C-PTFE) onto graphite chips instead of carbon cloth. The trickle bed cathode was optimized by single-factor and orthogonal experiments, in which carbon black, PTFE, and a surfactant were considered as the determinant of the performance of graphite chips. In the reactor assembled by the trickle bed cathode, H2O2 was generated with a current of 0.3A and a current efficiency of 60%. This performance was attributed to the fine distribution of electrolyte and air, as well as the effective oxygen transfer from the gas phase to the electrolyte–cathode interface. In terms of H2O2 generation and current efficiency, the developed trickle bed reactor had a performance comparable to that of the conventional E-Fenton reactor using a gas diffusion cathode. Further, 123mgL−1 of reactive brilliant red X-3B in aqueous solution was decomposed in the optimized trickle bed reactor as E-Fenton reactor. The decolorization ratio reached 97% within 20min, and the mineralization reached 87% within 3h.