Distinct synergetic effects in the ozone enhanced photocatalytic degradation of phenol and oxalic acid with Fe3Â +/TiO2 catalyst

In this work, phenol and oxalic acid (OA) degradation in an ozone and photocatalysis integrated process was intensively conducted with Fe3 +/TiO2 catalyst. The ferrioxalate complex formed between Fe3 + and oxalate accelerated the removal of OA in the ozonation, photolysis and photocatalytic ozonation process, for its high reactivity with ozone and UV. Phenol was degraded in ozonation and photolysis with limited TOC removal rates, but much higher TOC removal was achieved in photocatalytic ozonation due to the generation of OH. The sequence of UV light and ozone in the sequential process also influences the TOC removal, and ozone is very powerful to oxidize intermediates catechol and hydroquinone to maleic acid. Fenton or photo-Fenton reactions only played a small part in Fe3 +/TiO2 catalyzed processes, because Fe3 + was greatly reduced but not regenerated in many cases. The synergetic effect was found to be highly related with the property of the target pollutants. Fe3 +/TiO2 catalyzed system showed the highest ability to destroy organics, but the TiO2 catalyzed system showed little higher synergy.