title: Coupling between high-frequency ultrasound and solar photo-Fenton at pilot scale for the treatment of organic contaminants: an initial approach.
abstract: This study aims to evaluate the performance of a novel pilot-scale coupled system consisting of a high frequency ultrasonic reactor (400kHz) and a compound parabolic collector (CPC). The benefits of the concurrent application of ultrasound and the photo-Fenton process were studied in regard to the degradation behavior of a series of organic pollutants. Three compounds (phenol, bisphenol A and diuron) with different physicochemical properties have been chosen in order to identify possible synergistic effects and to obtain a better estimate of the general feasibility of such a system at field scale (10L). Bisphenol A and diuron were specifically chosen due to their high hydrophobicity, and thus their assumed higher affinity towards the cavitation bubble. Experiments were conducted under ultrasonic, photo-Fenton and combined treatments. Enhanced degradation kinetics were observed during the coupled treatment and synergy factors clearly in excess of 1 have been calculated for phenol as well as for saturated solutions of bisphenol A and diuron. Although the relatively high cost of ultrasound compared to photo-Fenton still presents a significant challenge towards mainstream industrial application, the observed behavior suggests that its prudent use has the potential to significantly benefit the photo-Fenton process, via the decrease of both treatment time and H2O2 consumption.
authors.affiliation: Group of Advanced Oxidation Processes, Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Plataforma Solar de Almería, Carretera Senés Km 4, Tabernas (Almería) 04200, Spain.
authors.forename: Stefanos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Papoutsakis
authors.affiliation: Plataforma Solar de Almería, Carretera Senés Km 4, Tabernas (Almería) 04200, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miralles-Cuevas
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédés, 38041 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gondrexon
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédés, 38041 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baup
authors.affiliation: Plataforma Solar de Almería, Carretera Senés Km 4, Tabernas (Almería) 04200, Spain.
authors.forename: Sixto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malato
authors.affiliation: Group of Advanced Oxidation Processes, Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: cesar.pulgarin@epfl.ch.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pulgarin
keywords: Compound parabolic collector; High-frequency ultrasound; Pilot-scale; Solar photo-Fenton; Wastewater treatment