Modelling of sonochemical processes in water treatment

The mechanisms and kinetics of the sonochemical degradation of organic molecules in water are relatively complex since several parameters such as physicochemical properties, substrate concentration, water matrix, reactor geometry, ultrasound properties (frequency, power, emission system) all typically affect the process. In this work, simple kinetic models were used to predict the degradation of 2-chlorophenol and sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate in aqueous solutions and verified against experimental data taken from previous studies. A pseudo-first order kinetic expression can adequately describe the degradation of the phenolic substrate, while a heterogeneous model based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation is suitable for the surfactant degradation.