Submerged arc plasma system combined with ozone oxidation for the treatment of wastewater containing non-degradable organic compounds

Highlights

• Submerged arc plasma was introduced in terms of wastewater treatment.

• Ozone oxidation was coupled with submerged arc plasma system.

• Ozone was converted into O and O₂ by submerged arc plasma.

• Decomposition rate was accelerated by submerged arc plasma.

• Introduction of ozone led to significant increase in mineralization.

Abstract

Submerged arc plasma technology was assessed for the removal of phenols from wastewater. The OH radicals generated from the boundary between the plasma and waste solution were considered as a significant factor on the degradation reaction. In this study, the effects of highly energetic electrons released from the submerged arc plasma were mainly studied. The highly energetic electrons directly broke the strong chemical bond and locally increased the reaction temperatures in solution. The effects of the submerged-arc plasma on the decomposition of phenol are discussed in terms of the input energy and initial concentration. The single use of submerged arc plasma easily decomposed the phenol but did not increase the mineralization efficiency. Therefore, the submerged arc plasma, coupled with the ozone injection, was investigated. The submerged arc plasma combined with ozone injection had a synergic effect, which led to significant improvements in mineralization with only a small increase in input energy. The decomposition mechanism of phenol by the submerged arc plasma with the ozone was analyzed.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Thermal plasma / Submerged arc plasma / Wastewater / Ozone / Phenol / Highly energetic electron

References

[1] Abdullah N, Yusof N, Lau W J, Jaafar J, Ismail A F (2019). Recent trends of heavy metal removal from water/wastewater by membrane technologies. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 76(25): 17–38

[2] Asghar A, Raman A A A, Daud W M A W (2015). Advanced oxidation processes for in-situ production of hydrogen peroxide/hydroxyl radical for textile wastewater treatment: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 87(15): 826–838

[3] Bora B, Aomoa N, Kakati M (2010). Characteristics and temperature measurement of a non-transferred cascaded DC plasma torch. Plasma Science & Technology, 12(2): 181–187

[4] Bruggeman P, Schram D C (2010). On OH production in water containing atmospheric pressure plasmas. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 19(4): 1–9

[5] Cai Y, Ben T, Zaidi A A, Shi Y, Zhang K, Lin A, Liu C (2019). Effect of pH on pollutants removal of ship sewage treatment in an innovative aerobic-anaerobic micro-sludge MBR system. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 230: 163

[6] Crini G, Lichtfouse E (2019). Advantages and disadvantages of techniques used for wastewater treatment. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 17: 145–155

[7] Daverey A, Pandey D, Verma P, Verma S, Shah V, Dutta K, Arunachalam K (2019). Recent advances in energy efficient biological treatment of municipal wastewater. Bioresource Technology Reports, 7: 100252https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biteb.2019.100252

[8] Du C M, Yan J H (2017). Degradation and discoloration of textile dyes using gliding arc plasma combined with fenton catalysis. In: Du C, Yan J, eds. Plasma Remediation Technology for Environmental Protection. Singapore: Springer-Verlag Singapore Pte Ltd. 21–39_

[9] Fang Y, Hariu D, Yamamoto T, Komarov S (2019). Acoustic cavitation assisted plasma for wastewater treatment: Degradation of Rhodamine B in aqueous solution. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 52: 318–325

[10] Fux C, Boehler M, Huber P, Brunner I, Siegrist H (2002). Biological treatment of ammonium-rich wastewater by partial nitritation and subsequent anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in a pilot plant. Journal of Biotechnology, 99(3): 295–306

[11] He L, Tan T, Gao Z, Fan L (2019). The shock effect of inorganic suspended solids in surface runoff on wastewater treatment plant performance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3): 453

[12] Herrmann-Heber R, Reinecke S F, Hampel U (2019). Dynamic aeration for improved oxygen mass transfer in the wastewater treatment process. Chemical Engineering Journal, 386: 122068

[13] Itikawa Y, Mason N (2005). Cross sections for electron collisions with water molecules. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 34(1): 1–22

[14] Joshi A A, Locke B R, Arce P, Finney W C (1995). Formation of hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide and aqueous electrons by pulsed streamer corona discharge in aqueous solution. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 41(1): 3–30

[15] Joshi R P, Thagard S M (2013). Streamer-like electrical discharges in water: Part II. Environmental applications. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 33: 17– 49

[16] Lee D, Lee J C, Nam J Y, Kim H W (2018). Degradation of sulfonamide antibiotics and their intermediates toxicity in an aeration-assisted non-thermal plasma while treating strong wastewater. Chemosphere, 209: 901–907

[17] Li L, Li J, Bai J, Zeng Q, Xia L, Zhang Y, Chen S, Xu Q, Zhou B (2019). The effect and mechanism of organic pollutants oxidation and chemical energy conversion for neutral wastewater via strengthening reactive oxygen species. Science of the Total Environment, 651(Part 1): 1226–1235

[18] Liu F, Wang W, Wang S, Zheng W, Wang Y (2007). Diagnosis of OH radical by optical emission spectroscopy in a wire-plate bi-directional pulsed corona discharge. Journal of Electrostatics, 65(7): 445–451https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elstat.2006.10.007

[19] Liu J L, Park H W, Hamdan A, Cha M S (2018). In-liquid arc plasma jet and its application to phenol degradation. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 51(11): 114005

[20] Liu X, Tian J, Li Y, Sun N, Mi S, Xie Y, Chen Z (2019). Enhanced dyes adsorption from wastewater via Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles functionalized activated carbon. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 373(5): 397–407

[21] Lu W, Abbas Y, Mustafa M F, Pan C, Wang H (2019). A review on application of dielectric barrier discharge plasma technology on the abatement of volatile organic compounds. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(2): 30

[22] Lucas M S, Peres J A, Li Puma G (2010) Treatment of winery wastewater by ozone-based advanced oxidation processes (O₃, O₃/UV and O₃/UV/H₂O₂) in a pilot-scale bubble column reactor and process economics. Separation and Purification Technology, 72(3): 235–241 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2010.01.016

[23] Malik S N, Khan S M, Ghosh P C, Vaidya A N, Kanade G, Mudliar S N (2019). Treatment of pharmaceutical industrial wastewater by nano-catalyzed ozonation in a semi-batch reactor for improved biodegradability. Science of the Total Environment, 678(15): 114–122

[24] Mandal T, Maity S, Dasgupta D, Datta S (2010). Advanced oxidation process and biotreatment: Their roles in combined industrial wastewater treatment. Desalination, 250(1): 87–94

[25] Narengerile, Yuan M H, Watanabe T (2011). Decomposition mechanism of phenol in water plasmas by DC discharge at atmospheric pressure. Chemical Engineering Journal, 168(3): 985–993

[26] Ni G, Zhao G, Jiang Y, Li J, Meng Y, Wang X (2013a). Steam plasma jet treatment of phenol in aqueous solution at atmospheric pressure. Plasma Processes and Polymers, 10(4): 353–363

[27] Ni G H, Zhao Y, Meng Y D, Wang X K, Toyoda H (2013b). Steam plasma jet for treatment of contaminated water with high-concentration 1,4-dioxane organic pollutants. Europhysics Letters, 101(4): 45001

[28] Ono R, Oda T (2001). OH radical measurement in a pulsed arc discharge plasma observed by a LIF method. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 37(3): 709–714

[29] Oturan M A, Aaron J J (2014). Advanced oxidation processes in water/wastewater treatment: Principles and applications. A review. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 44(23): 2577–2641

[30] Park J H, Shin D S, Lee J K (2019). Treatment of high-strength animal industrial wastewater using photo-assisted fenton oxidation coupled to photocatalytic technology. Water (Switzerland), 11(8): 1553https://doi.org/10.3390/w11081553

[31] Smith D P, Smith N T (2019). Recovery of wastewater nitrogen for solanum lycopersicum propagation. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 10: 1191–1202

[32] Snyder S C, Reynolds L D, Lassahn G D, Fincke J R, Shaw Jr C B, Kearney R J (1993). Determination of gas-temperature and velocity profiles in an argon thermal-plasma jet by laser-light scattering. Physical Review E: Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, 47(3): 1996–2005

[33] Tang S, Lu N, Li J, Shang K, Wu Y (2013). Improved phenol decomposition and simultaneous regeneration of granular activated carbon by the addition of a titanium dioxide catalyst under a dielectric barrier discharge plasma. Carbon, 53: 380–390https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2012.11.028

[34] Wang J L, Xu L J (2012). Advanced oxidation processes for wastewater treatment: Formation of hydroxyl radical and application. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 42(3): 251–325

[35] Wei J, Ge J, Rouff A A, Wen X, Meng X, Song Y (2019). Phosphorus recovery from wastewater using light calcined magnesite, effects of alkalinity and organic acids. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 7(5): 103334

[36] Xu X W, Shi H X, Wang D H (2005). Ozonation with ultrasonic enhancement of p-nitrophenol wastewater. Journal of Zhejiang University. Science, 6(5): 319–323

[37] Yasar A, Ahmad N, Khan A A A, Yousaf A (2007). Decolorization of Blue CL-BR dye by AOPs using bleach wastewater as source of H₂O₂. Journal of Environmental Sciences-China, 19(10): 1183–1188

[38] Yuan M H,Narengerile, Watanabe T, Chang C Y (2010). DC water plasma at atmospheric pressure for the treatment of aqueous phenol. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(12): 4710–4715

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (No. 20194030202340) and by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2019R1A2C1006816).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1384-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press