Chemical Engineering and Processing, Vol.128, 103-113, 2018
Effective method of treatment of industrial effluents under basic pH conditions using acoustic cavitation - A comprehensive comparison with hydrodynamic cavitation processes
The use of acoustic cavitation in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is a promising trend in research for treatment of industrial effluents. The paper presents the results of investigations on the use of acoustic cavitation aided by additional oxidation processes (ozonation/H2O2 oxidation/Peroxone/UV-C) for the treatment of effluents from the production of bitumens. Under these conditions, the total contaminant load, expressed as chemical oxygen demand (COD), could be lowered by 51%. In addition, changes in concentrations of volatile organic compounds identified in the effluents following the treatment are discussed. The investigations revealed that by using acoustic cavitation combined with the Peroxone process, the majority of oxygenated organic compounds were oxidized. The paper also compares AOPs based on acoustic cavitation with hydrodynamic cavitation-aided processes. This study revealed that the use of acoustic cavitation results in a higher effectiveness of degradation of organic compounds using AOPs based on hydrogen peroxide. On the other hand, hydrodynamic cavitation is generally a slightly more effective method for degradation of organic compounds for ozone-based AOPs. Furthermore, furfural and 2-methylcyclohexanone were discovered as secondary pollutants whose concentration increased during the treatment.
Keywords:Acoustic cavitation;Hydrodynamic cavitation;Sonocavitation;Wastewater treatment;Industrial effluents;Advanced oxidation processes (AOP)