Review on the recent improvements in sonochemical and combined sonochemical oxidation processes - A powerful tool for destruction of environmental contaminants

The last two decades research demonstrate that the presence of organic contaminants in drinking water has increased every year and the increasing demand for the technology to reclaim the water from the effluents released by the industries has persuaded us to write the review in this topic. The combination of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) namely photocatalysis, Fenton and ozonolysis combined with sonolysis harvests the degradation of wide spectrum of organic contaminants. The various parameters including the geometry of the sonochemical reactors influencing the sonochemical reactions have been discussed. The combination of sonolysis with photocatalysis, Fenton and ozonolysis enhances the production of non-selective radicals to improve the degradation process thus avoiding the secondary pollution. The economical and technical feasibilities of the AOPs are very essential for the initialization of the combined AOPs for the degradation of environmental contaminants. The review envisions to improve our understanding and outline directions for future research.