Degradation of phenol in aqueous solution by advanced oxidation processes

Abstract

newlineThe fresh water resources available in the earth are exposed to a systematic pollution due to the increase in water abstraction by diverse human activities Rapid industrialization and urbanization have created a large number of new sources for aqueous effluents containing toxic and hazardous pollutants which are in most cases too refractory to degrade naturally The contamination by organic compounds is very common and among the organic compounds phenol is frequently found in many industrial effluents Thus wastewater treatment and re use of this treated wastewater is mandatory for sustainable development The stringent environmental legislations have reinforced the research on more efficient low cost remediation technologies to overcome the problems associated with existing methods Advanced Oxidation Processes AOPs have been found to be effective for the decontamination of refractory wastewaters In particular Fenton process is recognized as one of the AOP s to degrade such contaminants The major drawback of the Fenton reaction is the depletion of iron ions through sludge which requires further separation and safe disposal newline