Highly dispersed fe-alumina catalyst for CWHPO of phenolic solutions in a continuous fixed-bed reactor

HAURE, PATRICIA; DI LUCA, CARLA; MASSA, PAOLA; FENOGLIO, ROSA

Belo Horizonte

Congreso; VIII Encontro sobre Aplicações Ambientais de Processos Oxidativos Avançados- II Congresso Iberoamericano de Processos Oxidativos Avançados; 2015

Escola da Enginheria - UFMG

An enhanced Fe2O3/γ-Al2O3 (4 wt% Fe) catalyst has been used for the catalytic wet hydrogen peroxide oxidation (CWHPO) of concentrated phenolic solutions (1-5 g/L) carried out in a continuous fixed-bed reactor at 70ºC and atmospheric pressure. To improve catalytic performance, different preparation strategies were combined: two-stage impregnation of iron citrate, calcination at 900ºC and acid washing step. Moreover, several operating parameters such as the organic initial charge, the weight of the catalyst bed and the feed flow rate have been investigated in order to assess their effect over phenol mineralization and catalyst deactivation. The performance of this heterogeneous Fenton-type catalyst resulted very promissory as it yielded: total phenol abatement, remarkable TOC conversion (ca. 80%), high oxidant consumption efficiencies and low Fe lixiviation levels (< 2 %).