Catalytic oxidation of anionic surfactants by electrochemical oxidation with CuO-Co2O3-PO43− modified kaolin

A new catalytic oxidation of anionic surfactants by electrochemistry method was designed and used to investigate the removal of anionic surfactant from simulated wastewater. Synergetic effect on COD removal was studied when integrating the electrochemical reactor, using porous graphite as anode and cathode, with the effective CuO-Co2O3-PO43− modified kaolin catalyst in a single undivided cell. The result showed that this combined process could effectively remove anionic surfactant. Its COD removal efficiency was much higher than those individual processes and could reach up to 90% in 60 min. The operating parameters such as initial pH, cell voltage, and current intensity were also investigated. Possible theory for COD removal was also proposed to predict the role of modified kaolin, electro-catalysis and oxidation in the combined process. The pollutants in wastewater could be decreased by the high reactive OH that produced on the surface of catalyst by the decomposition of electrochemical generated H2O2. The result indicates that the catalytic oxidation by electrochemistry method is a promising wastewater treatment technique.