Noncatalytic and catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants in wastewater by air

Abstract

With the ever-increasing worldwide population and demand for various goods andcommodities, rapid economic development gives rise to increasing volume of wastewa-ter globally produced by various industrial sectors, such as chemical, pharmaceutical,petrochemical, food, oil refineries, dyes and textiles, and agricultural activities. Conse-quently, they pose a greater challenge to theenvironmental remediation and protection,which calls for more effective and efficient technology for the wastewater treatment inorder to meet more stringent discharge standards. Among different types of pollutantsgenerated by industry, organic wastes account for the majority, which often containhighly toxic and hazardous compounds, such as aromatic and phenolic hydrocarbons,chlorinated and halogenated solvents, organic dyes and azo derivatives, pesticides, her-bicides, and antibiotics. Each of these organic pollutant families requires specificelimination methods, which should be judiciously selected to obtain minimum traces ofresidual organic contents as the main criterion.