Catalytic ozonation of phenol and oxalic acid with copper-loaded activated carbon

A novel heterogeneous catalytic ozonation process in water treatment was studied, with a copper-loaded activated carbon (Cu/AC) that was prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method at low temperature and tested as a catalyst in the ozonation of phenol and oxalic acid. Cu/AC was characterized using XRD, BET and SEM techniques. Compared with ozonation alone, the presence of Cu/AC in the ozonation processes significantly improves the degradation of phenol or oxalic acid. With the introduction of the hydroxyl radical scavenger, i.e., turt-butanol alcohol (t-BuOH), the degradation efficiency of both phenol and oxalic acid in the Cu/AC catalyzed ozonation process decreases by 22% at 30 min. This indicates that Cu/AC accelerates ozone decomposition into certain concentration of hydroxyl radicals. The amount of Cu(II) produced during the reaction of Cu/AC-catalyzed ozonation of phenol or oxalic acid is very small, which shows that the two processes are both heterogeneous catalytic ozonation reactions.