Iron-loaded carbon nanotube-microfibrous composite for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of m-cresol in a fixed bed reactor.
A kind of novel iron-loaded carbon nanotube-microfibrous composite (Fe2O3-CNT-MF) catalyst is prepared and tested for fixed bed m-cresol catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) reaction. Results show that the Fe2O3-CNT-MF can significantly decline the pressure drop of the fixed bed. Higher temperature, lower feed flow rate, higher catalyst bed height, and higher H2O2 dosage are beneficial to m-cresol degradation. Lower pH can also improve m-cresol degradation, but it will cause severe iron leaching. The highest m-cresol removal (over 99.5%) and total organic carbon (TOC) removal (53.6%) can be observed under condition of 2 cm bed height, flow rate of 2 mL/min, reaction temperature of 70 °C, 6 g/L H2O2, and initial pH = 1. Meanwhile, the Fe2O3-CNT-MF catalyst shows good stability with less than 10% decrease in m-cresol conversion and 7% decrease in TOC conversion after 24-h reaction and less than 2 mg/L iron leaching is observed in all conditions except for strong acid condition. Two probable pathways of m-cresol degradation process are presented. Under most conditions, m-cresol will first be turned into methylhydroquinone, followed by oxidation to p-toluquinone. In basic condition, some m-cresol will first be changed into 4-methylpyrocatechol. These aromatic intermediates will then be oxidized into some small molecular acids and finally be mineralized to CO2 and H2O.
['Yang|Yi|Y|', 'Zhang|Huiping|H|', 'Huang|Haoxin|H|', 'Yan|Ying|Y|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0445-8153', 'Zhang|Xinya|X|']
D002384:Catalysis D003408:Cresols D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide D007501:Iron D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon D010084:Oxidation-Reduction D010545:Peroxides D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation m-Cresol Carbon nanotube Mechanism Microfibrous composite