Integrated Sono-Fenton ultrafiltration process for 4-chlorophenol removal from aqueous effluents: assessment of operational parameters (Part 1)

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane separation processes are successfully used in the final stages of wastewater treatment for recycling and reuse purposes. This research proposes a new two stage process including in the first step a homogeneous Sono-Fenton process (as an AOP), coupled with ultrafiltration (UF), as a cleaner and safer alternative for advanced wastewater treatment, designed specially to enhance the removal of priority organic pollutants which are difficult to eliminate by means of conventional treatments. The aim of this study is to analyze experimentally the performances of an integrated ultrasonication-UF process for the removal of 4-chlorophenol (4CP) (as a model-pollutant for priority organic compounds from wastewaters), both from the removal efficiency (expressed as phenolic concentration and chemical oxygen demand reduction) and the energy consumption point of view. The most important factors with influence on both stages of the proposed process, such as acoustic amplitude, power density, and operating mode for the Sono-Fenton process and pressure, time, operating mode, and cleaning operations for the UF stage, were assessed in this paper (Part 1). The experimental results indicate that the process can be applied for such aqueous effluents, in laboratory scale equipments and represent the basis for modeling the process steps and scale-up of different process arrangements (Cailean et al. (2014): "Integrated Sono-Fenton UF Process for 4CP Removal from Aqueous Effluents: Process Modeling and Simulation (Part 2)"), with the purpose to analyze and control such a process, under various conditions and to understand better its advantages and disadvantages.