Decomposition of phenol by hybrid gas/liquid electrical discharge reactors with zeolite catalysts

Application of hybrid gas/liquid electrical discharge reactors and a liquid phase direct electrical discharge reactor for degradation of phenol in the presence and absence of zeolites have been investigated. Hybrid gas/liquid electrical discharges involve simultaneous high voltage electrical discharges in water and in the gas phase above the water surface leading to the additional OH radicals in the liquid phase and ozone formation in the gas phase with subsequent dissolution into the liquid. The role of applied zeolites, namely NH4ZSM5, FeZSM5 and HY, were also studied. Phenol degradation and production of primary phenol by-products, catechol and hydroquinone, during the treatment were monitored by HPLC measurements. The highest phenol removal results, 89.4-93.6%, were achieved by electrical discharge in combination with FeZSM5 in all three configurations of corona reactors. These results indicate that the Fenton reaction has significant influence on overall phenol removal efficiency in the electrical discharge/FeZSM5 system due to the additional OH radical formation from hydrogen peroxide generated by the water phase discharge.