A simplified reaction model predicting the effect of some parameters on the degradation of phenol in the electron beam process

Electron beam irradiation is a known advanced oxidation process that is studied in the literature to examine the possibilities of pollutant removal from waters. In the present work, a common pollutant, phenol, was chosen as model molecule to investigate the capability of a simple reaction system to predict the influence of certain parameters on the efficiency of the electron beam process. This model is based on the main reactions occurring during the irradiation of aqueous solutions of phenol. It was found to simulate suitably the effect of the dissolved oxygen and of the initial concentration on the abatement of the molecule during the irradiation. Various irradiation experiments were also performed by modifying the mode of the dose deposition. The results showed that, for a given applied dose, the multiplication of the passages under the electron beam significantly improves the abatement of phenol (20%). The oxygenation of the solution and the mathematical expression of the evolution of the pollutant concentration with the radiation dose partly explain this improvement.