Tayebeh Mousanejad - Department of Chemistry, Khoy Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khoy, Iran
Younes Bakhshi - Department of Chemistry, Khoy Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khoy, Iran

Nowadays, water pollution caused by diverse poisonous compounds, particularly hydroxy aromatic compounds and their derivatives, has become a prominent environmental issue because of the possible toxicity to human beings. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) have been developed as an emerging technology for treating hazardous organics in wastewater and groundwater. The degradation and mineralization of Catechol in aqueous solution was investigated by various advanced oxidation processes including US, O۳ and US/O۳. The obtained results revealed that the coupled US/O۳ process is the most effective method for this purpose. Then, the effect of operational parameters, such as ozone dosage, US power and pH on the degradation and mineralization of pollutant on coupled process was studied. The results demonstrated that the ozone dosage and US power were found to have the noticeable impact on the process; however, initial pH was less effective. Optimum condition of US/O۳ process is ozone concentration of ۵.۲ mg/L, Us power of ۰.۴ W/mL, pH = ۶.۵, Catechol concentration = ۵۰ ppm and reaction time = ۲۰ min. According to experiments, the percentage of Catechol removal in this condition was ۹۹.۸ Finally, degradation intermediates were identified by the GC-MS method (Maleic acid, Oxalic acid ) under optimized conditions.

Degradation; Mineralization; Ultrasound; ozonation;Catechol ; US/O۳