Catalytic activity of Ru/Al2O3 for ozonation of dimethyl phthalate in aqueous solution

With dimethyl phthalate as the model pollutant and Ru/Al2O3 as catalyst, this paper systemically investigates the removal of total organic carbon (TOC) of system. Our results have confirmed that Ru/Al2O3 can significantly increase the effect of ozonation. TOC removal in 120 min can reach 72% while only 24% with ozone alone. The optimal catalyst preparing condition was 0.1 wt% Ru content, 600 °C calcination temperature, 0.5-1.0 mm particle diameter, which is characterized by a high surface area and a large population of surface active sites. The contrasting experiments of ozone alone, catalyst adsorption after ozonation, and catalytic ozonation confirmed that catalytic reaction was the most important process to TOC removal in system with Ru/Al2O3 as catalyst.