Catalytic performance of Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 catalyst in ozonation of 2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)propionic acid, nitrobenzene and oxalic acid in water

Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 catalyst was prepared by incipient wetness impregnation using Fe(NO3)3-9H2O and Co(NO3)2-6H2O as the precursors, and its catalytic performance was investigated in ozonation of 2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)propionic acid (2,4-DP), nitrobenzene and oxalic acid. The experimental results indicated that Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 catalyst enabled an interesting improvement of ozonation efficiency during the degradation of each organic pollutant, and the Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 catalytic ozonation system followed a radical-type mechanism. The kinetics of ozonation alone and Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 catalytic ozonation of three organic pollutants in aqueous solution were discussed under the mere consideration of direct ozone reaction and OH radical reaction to well investigate its performance. In the catalytic ozonation of 2,4-DP, the apparent reaction rate constants (k) were determined to be 1.456 x 10−2 min-1 for ozonation alone and 4.740 x 10−2 min −1 for O3/Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3. And O3/Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 had a larger Rct (6.614 x 10−9) calculated by the relative method than O3 did (1.800 x 10-9), showing O3/Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 generated more hydroxyl radical. Similar results were also obtained in the catalytic ozonation of nitrobenzene and oxalic acid. The above results demonstrated that the catalytic performance of Fe3O4-CoO/Al2O3 in ozonation of studied organic substance was universal to a certain degree.