Wastewater treatment by means of advanced oxidation processes based on cavitation - A review

Hydrodynamic and acoustic cavitation combined with advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), including, among others, the Fenton process, is a promising alternative to the technologies of wastewater treatment technologies in use today. The present review discusses processes based on cavitation combined with AOPs and evaluates their effectiveness in oxidation of organic contaminants. Complete degradation of, among others, p-nitrotoluene, p-aminophenol, 1,4-dioxane, alachlor, chloroform, trichloroethylene, sodium pentachlorophenate and carbon tetrachloride was achieved by using hydrodynamic cavitation or acoustic cavitation alone. Cavitation is also an effective method of disinfection of water. Complete oxidation of hardly degradable organic contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, organic dyes, insecticides, phenol and its derivatives was observed when using hybrid processes: hydrodynamic or acoustic cavitation combined with the Fenton process, ozonation, hydrogen peroxide, UV irradiation, catalysts and persulfates. The review also discusses the cavitational reactors used in the wastewater treatment and the effect of process parameters (including pH, temperature, concentration and kind of contaminants) on the effectiveness of oxidation. The oxidation effectiveness for individual treatment methods is compared and their advantages and limitations discussed. The analysis of economics of the treatment processes performed to evaluate the possibility of scaling up reveals that the only economical processes should be based on hydrodynamic cavitation (mainly due to low cost of reactors and low consumption of electrical energy compared with ultrasonic reactors).