The Effectiveness of a New Gas-Induced Reactor in Treating Phenolic Wastewater by Ozonation and Hydrogen Peroxide

A new Gas-Induced Reactor (GIR) has been developed to improve the efficiency of ozone utilization in water treatment. In this study, the GIR was used to investigate the behavior of ozonation of aqueous phenol solution by means of O3 and O3/H2O2 processes in order to explore the feasibility and efficiency of treating such wastewater using the new GIR. The study observed the decomposition of phenol, utilization of ozone, and variation of TOC during ozonation, varying pH values, phenol initial concentrations, ozone input concentrations, and hydrogen peroxide dosages. The study concluded that the new GIR was capable of performing effective and efficient ozonation of phenolic wastewater, maintaining high ozone utilization ratios at all experimental pH values and initial phenol and ozone concentrations. The optimal pH condition for phenol removal was around 11. The best molar ratios of initial hydrogen peroxide over input ozone among the performed experiments were about 20 at pH 7 and 10 at pH 9 and 11. The primary operational energy used for treating a tonne of wastewater was 66 MJ, giving treatment costs of about USS1.0 per tonne.