Combinação de adsorção por carvão ativado com Processo Oxidativo Avançado (POA) para tratamento de efluentes contendo fenol

摘要

Adsorption on activated carbon (AC) is a technique extensively applied for wastewater treatment. However adsorption alone is not an ultimate solution, since the pollutants are just immobilized on the carbon surface. There is thus a need for efficient regeneration techniques. In this context, Fenton and photo-Fenton oxidations, which are promising technologies to destroy organic pollution, have been tested to regenerate the AC. The purposes of this study are the adsorption of phenol on activated carbons and the consecutive in-situ regeneration of carbon by (photo-) Fenton oxidation. Two different operations have been carried out: 1) batch procedure in order to investigate the influence of Fe2+ and H2O2 concentrations; 2) continuous fixed bed adsorption, followed by a batch circulation of the Fenton’s reagent through the saturated AC bed, to examine the efficiency of the real process. Two different activated carbons have been also studied: a both micro- and mesoporous AC (PICA L27) and an only microporous one (PICA S23). In the batch reactor the best conditions found for pollutant mineralization in the homogeneous Fenton system are not the best for AC regeneration: a continuous reduction of adsorption capacity of L27 is observed after 3 oxidations, due to the decrease of both AC weight and surface area. Higher concentration of Fe2+ and lower concentration of H2O2 (2 times the stoechiometry) lead to a 50% recovery of the initial adsorption capacity during at least 4 consecutive cycles for L27, while about 20% for S23. In the consecutive continuous adsorption/batch Fenton oxidation process, the regeneration efficiency reaches 30% to 40% for L27 after two cycles whatever the feed concentration and less than 10% for S23. A photo-Fenton test performed on L27 shows almost complete mineralization (contrary to dark Fenton) and further improves recovery of AC adsorption capacity although not complete (56% after two cycles).