Simultaneous methanol removal and destruction from wastewater in a trickle‐bed reactor

Abstract

AbstractThe stripping of methanol from wastewater was studied in a trickle‐bed reactor packed with a mixture of hydrophobic catalyst and hydrophilic support. The process involves air stripping of methanol followed by a gas phase oxidation of methanol into CO2 and H2 O over a platinum catalyst. At temperatures between 25 and 70°C, the overall rate was found to be controlled by the stripping step. Since the oxidation results in a lower concentration of methanol in the gas phase, the increased driving force for interfacial mass transfer leads to higher overall methanol removal efficiency.