Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenol with air and micellar molybdovanadophosphoric polyoxometalates under room condition

Micellar molybdovanadophosphoric polyoxometalate (POM) catalysts [(CnH2n+1)N(CH3)3]3+xPVxMo12−xO40 (x = 1, 2, 3; n = 8, 12, 14, 16, 18) were prepared and used for catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol. X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the resulting samples. The best catalytic activity was obtained over (C16TA)6PV3Mo9O40, which showed 95.3% degradation efficiency, 98.5% COD removal and 93.0% TOC reduction with air under room condition toward complete degradation product CO2 within 90 min. The leaching test showed that the POM micellar catalysts have an excellent stability and can be used as heterogeneous catalysts for about six times.