Abstract
In this study, a catalytic persulfate oxidation process comprising sodium persulfate (PS) and modified sewage sludge-derived carbonaceous catalysts was tested for the degradation of phenol. Sludge-based biochar was modified by high-temperature treatment combined with hydrochloric acid oxidation. The surface properties of carbonaceous catalysts before and after modification were characterized by elemental analysis, N2 isothermal adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The effects of reaction parameters including catalyst dosage, PS/phenol molar ratio, initial pH and reaction temperature on the degradation rate of phenol were investigated. The kinetics of phenol transformation was explored and the reaction rate appeared pseudo first-order kinetics. In SS-600-HCl/PS system, 91% phenol could be efficiently degraded under certain reaction conditions ([phenol]0 = 100 mg/L, catalyst dosage = 0.8 g/L, PS/phenol molar ratio = 3/1, pH = 7, 25 °C) in 180 min. Thus, the results showed that the modified sewage sludge-derived carbonaceous catalyst had a better ability to activate PS for phenol degradation.
Highlights
Phenol and its derivatives, considered as among the most toxic pollutants from industrial wastewater, are widely used in the coal chemical industry, oil refining, petrochemical, papermaking and the pharmaceutical industry [1,2,3]
The results indicated that SS-600-HCl could have more potential active sites and porous structures, which could promote the efficient oxidation reaction
The initial acidic condition will be of no benefit to the system. These results indicated that normal initial pH levels would be adaptable to the SS-600-HCl/PS system
Summary
Phenol and its derivatives, considered as among the most toxic pollutants from industrial wastewater, are widely used in the coal chemical industry, oil refining, petrochemical, papermaking and the pharmaceutical industry [1,2,3]. Because of its great harm to human beings and difficulty to degrade, the research on the treatment of this kind of organic wastewater has always been a hot topic in the field of industrial water treatment [4,5,6]. As an alternative to hydroxyl radicals, sulfate radical contains a lone pair of electrons on the outside, which has a long half-life, strong oxidation property and wide operative pH range [12]. As it has more advantages in practical industrial wastewater treatment, the sulfate radical was often used to
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