Degradation of phenol by ozone in the presence of Fenton reagent in a rotating packed bed

Abstract The degradation of phenol using ozone combined with Fenton reagent (O 3 /Fenton) in a rotating packed bed (RPB) was investigated in this study, and the O 3 /Fenton process was compared with O 3 process. The phenol degradation rate in O 3 /Fenton process was roughly 20% higher than that in O 3 process and reached 98.3% at H 2 O 2 concentration of 1.6 mM. It was also found out that phenol degradation rate was significantly affected by the rotation speed of RPB, inlet ozone concentration and H 2 O 2 concentration. Phenol degradation rate increased with increasing rotation speed, H 2 O 2 concentration and inlet ozone gas concentration, and reached maximum at a temperature of 25 °C, initial pH in the range of 5–6.8 and Fe(II) concentration of 0.1 mM. The BOD/COD of the phenol solution increased from 0.2 to 0.58 after the solution was treated in O 3 /Fenton-RPB system at pH of 6.8. Analysis of the intermediates showed comparatively more complete phenol degradation in O 3 /Fenton process.