Continuous-flow advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are commonly used for the destruction of persistent trace organics that survive conventional wastewater treatment processes. The UV/H2O2 process is applied to large-scale treatment using tubular reactors that contain one or more UV lamps. One common configuration consists of a single concentric lamp located at the center of a pipe. In this work, a novel flow-through UV reactor with a concentric lamp and a reflective pipe surface is used to investigate the destruction of p-cresol, a target representative of trace organics in wastewater. A kinetic model that includes elementary reactions of the UV/H2O2 system, target direct UV photolysis and hydroxyl radical reactions of the target and reaction intermediates was developed to model the process. The model incorporates UV light reflection from the reactor walls, as well as the hydrodynamics of the annular flow. The model accurately predicts the destruction of the target compound (p-cresol) in a wide range of experimental conditions. Experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that the wall reflectivity significantly enhances the rate of conversion of the target.

Modeling the UV/H2O2 oxidation of phenolic compounds in a continuous-flow reactor with reflecting wall

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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