Catalytic ozonation for advanced treatment of incineration leachate using (MnO2-Co3O4)/AC as a catalyst

•A novel catalyst was synthesized for effectively advanced treatment of incineration leachate.•Biodegradability of the wastewater was obviously increased by catalytic ozonation.•OH generation were accelerated in this catalytic ozonation process.

The leachate from municipal solid waste incineration plants can be effectively treated by a combined anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process. However, refractory humic-like and fulvic-like substances that remain in the effluent have been a challenge for advanced treatment due to the low biodegradability. In this study, catalytic ozonation was employed for the advanced oxidation treatment of this effluent by using (MnO2-Co3O4) loaded activated carbon composites (MnO2-Co3O4/AC) as a catalyst with a weight proportion of MnO2:Co3O4:AC at 1:2.49:31.23. The refractory substances were partially degraded to intermediates with lower molecular weight by the catalytic ozonation. The biodegradability (BOD5/COD) of the effluent increased from 0.15 to 0.80 by the catalytic ozonation with 0.4 g/L of (MnO2-Co3O4)/AC and 6.11 mg/(min·L) of transferred ozone within 30 min. The additional (MnO2-Co3O4/AC) catalyst improved the transferred ozone dosage into the wastewater and accelerated the hydroxyl radicals (OH) generation, which were the main mechanisms involved in its great performance on degrading the refractory pollutants.

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