Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol, nitrobenzene and aniline over the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as catalysts

Wet air oxidation (WAO) is one of effective technologies to eliminate hazardous, toxic and highly concentrated organic compounds in the wastewater. In the paper, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), functionalized by O3, were used as catalysts in the absence of any metals to investigate the catalytic activity in the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol, nitrobenzene (NB) and aniline at the mild operating conditions (reaction temperature of 155°C and total pressure of 2.5 MPa) in a batch reactor. The MWCNTs were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gas adsorption measurements (BET), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The functionalized MWCNTs showed good catalytic performance. In the CWAO of phenol over the functionalized MWCNTs, total phenol removal was obtained after 90 min run, and the reaction apparent activation energy was ca. 40 kJ·mol−1. The NB was not removed in the CWAO of single NB, while ca. 97% NB removal was obtained and 40% NB removal was attributed to the catalytic activity after 180 min run in the presence of phenol. Ca. 49% aniline conversion was achieved after 120 min run in the CWAO of aniline.