ENIVRONMENT ASIA

Volume 12, No. 02, Month MAY, Year 2019, Pages 24 - 31

A novel catalyst from water treatment sludge for catalytic ozonation to degrade phenol

IApiradee Sukmilin, Banjong Boonchom, and Chalor Jarusutthirak

Abstract Download PDF

Water treatment sludge (WTS) from a water treatment plant has been successfully converted into a novel catalyst. Catalytic ozonation using the WTS as a catalyst for degradation of phenol was studied. Water treatment sludge was dried naturally for 7 days, then grounded and sieved through a standard mesh with a size no. of 100, equivalent to less than 150 micron in size. The WTS was characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The XRF analysis showed that water treatment sludge contained silica of 49.90%, Al2O3 of 24.40 %, and Fe2O3 of 10.40 %. The XRD analysis illustrated that the structure of water treatment sludge was similar to that of kaolin clay. Factors affecting phenol removal efficiency including reaction time (0, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min), pH (3, 7, and 11) and catalyst dosage (1, 3 and 5 g/L) were investigated. At the optimum conditions, i.e. reaction time of 120 min, pH of 11, and catalyst dosage of 3 g/L, the removal efficiency of phenol was 59.16% which was higher than that of sole ozonation (44.61%). According to kinetic analysis, it was found that the experimental data fit well with pseudo-first order kinetic model with a rate constant (Kobs) of 0.0347 min-1 while that of sole ozone was 0.0162 min-1.

Keywords

Catalytic ozonation; Degradation; Phenol; Water treatment sludge

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