Lumped kinetic model for catalytic wet oxidation of organic compounds in industrial wastewater

Abstract

AbstractA simplified reaction pathway was proposed to describe the kinetic behavior of catalytic wet oxidation of organic mixture. The oxidation reactions were divided and lumped into two groups: (1) the deep or complete oxidation reactions with formation of CO2 and H2O; (2) the partial oxidation reactions with formation of all intermediates in aqueous solution of the industrial wastewater. The concentrations of all reactants in wastewater and those of the intermediates formed during the reaction are also represented by a lumped concentration of total organic carbon (TOC). To test the model, catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants in an effluent from a softwood Kraft pulp mill was investigated in a slurry reactor using a Pd‐Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Sodium hydroxide was used to adjust the initial pH of wastewater to 7.3 to avoid the problem of metal leaching and excessive corrosion. The lumped kinetic model developed in this study describes well both our experimental data and those reported in literature. The lumped kinetic model proposed in this study can be used for both catalytic and noncatalytic wet oxidation processes.