Preparation of novel Fe catalysts from industrial by-products : catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of bisphenol A

Biomass-based carbon residue (CR) was used as a support material for iron catalysts to degrade bisphenol A (BPA) in catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO). According to the results, CR and Fe/CR catalysts are suitable materials for CWPO. The Fe catalysts were prepared by either incipient wet impregnation or wet impregnation methods with an iron chloride solution. The specific surface area of the prepared catalysts was 17–91 m2 g−1, and it remained the same after the oxidation experiments. The CWPO experiments were carried out batch-wise at c(BPA) =60 mg L−1, c(H2O2) =1.5 g L−1, c(catalyst) =1–2 g L−1, T = 50 °C and at the initial pH. The 5.0Fe/CR catalyst was found to be active with BPA removal and total organic carbon (TOC) conversion of 83 and 64%, respectively, and was the most stable catalyst with negligible iron leaching during the 3 h experiment.