Abstract

Phenol is an organic pollutant found in various types of industrial wastewater. Due to its bactericidal properties, it is difficult to eliminate it by classic treatment methods. In this work, the degradation of this compound by Fenton reaction at mild temperature and pressure conditions is studied. An experimental design was applied in order to quantify the influence of operating parameters on the efficiency of this method. The field of study was defined between 20 and 50°C for the temperature, 1 and 4 g L−1 for the phenol concentration, 10 and 28 for the H2O2 to phenol molar ratio, and 0.02 to 0.08 for the Fe(II) to phenol concentration ratio. It was shown that the temperature and the amount of catalyst have a strong influence. A model giving the decrease of COD was established. The COD decrease was between 40% and 72% and phenol had totally disappeared.