High effective degradation of phenol with Cu/Bi-Ce/Al2O3 heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor

Abstract

The two-stage fixed-bed reactor significantly enhanced the phenol degradation efficiency in the heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction. The Cu/Bi-Ce/Al2O3 catalyst, prepared by impregnation-precipitation method, exhibited favorable phenol removal, and the phenol degradation efficiency was ∼32.6 % higher in the two-stage fixed-bed reactor than that in the one-stage fixed-bed reactor under optimal parameters. Moreover, the Cu/Bi-Ce/Al2O3 catalyst had excellent stability in the Fenton-like reaction due to the bismuth doping in the catalyst inhibiting the dissolution of copper ion. The Cu/Bi-Ce/Al2O3 catalyst also displayed efficient purification ability for phenolic municipal sewage in the two-stage fixed-bed reactor. The redox cycles of Cu2+/Cu+ and Ce4+/Ce3+ were evidenced coexist to enhance the catalyst activity. The quenching experiments demonstrated that the generated singlet oxygen and superoxide anion free radicals dominated the degradation of phenol in the heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction over the Cu/Bi-Ce/Al2O3 catalyst. This study may provide a novel heterogeneous Fenton-like/H2O2 system for degrading organic pollutants in the fixed-bed reactor.