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Comparison of catalysis and high energy irradiation for the intensification of wet oxidation as process wastewater pretreatment

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Abstract

Enhancing reaction rate in wet oxidation (WO) with catalysis and high energy irradiation was tested by comparing them with the usual thermal reaction. Total organic carbon and chemical oxygen demand (COD) conversion values of phenol degradation in the thermal WO were <20 % (150 °C, 20 bar, 2 h); in the catalytic reaction, they were nearly 60 %. Irradiation assisted oxidation produced more than 80 % COD conversion (30 min, absorbed dose ~18 kGy). This considerable increase in the oxidation rate at relatively low temperature is suggested to be due to temperature independent oxidation chain initiation by irradiation. Both the catalytic and especially the irradiation assisted reaction (at and above 125 °C) proved to be much more effective than the thermal WO. The condition of the application of Ti mesh monolith catalyst is the preparation of more leaching-resistant Ti mesh/Ru/Ir oxide catalyst with acceptable lifetime (>1000 h), that of the electron beam irradiation is the solving the problem of the introduction of the electron beam into the reaction mixture under high oxygen pressure without significant loss of intensity.

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Acknowledgments

The Authors would like to thank Budapest Sewage Works Ltd. (FCSM) and Swiss-Hungarian Cooperation SH7/2/14 project for their financial supports. E. Szabados acknowledges the support of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Centre of Energy Research for her scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surface Chemistry and Catalysis Department, Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    Erika Szabados & Antal Tungler

  2. Radiation Chemistry Department, Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    Gyuri Sági, Erzsébet Takács & László Wojnárovits

  3. Nuclear Security Department, Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, Budapest, 1121, Hungary

    András Kovács

  4. Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), P. O. Box 49, Budapest, 1525, Hungary

    Antal Tungler

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  1. Erika Szabados
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  2. Gyuri Sági
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  4. Erzsébet Takács
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Correspondence to Antal Tungler.

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Szabados, E., Sági, G., Kovács, A. et al. Comparison of catalysis and high energy irradiation for the intensification of wet oxidation as process wastewater pretreatment. Reac Kinet Mech Cat 116, 95–103 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-015-0894-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-015-0894-4

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