Evaluation of Efficacy of Anionic Surfactant Degradation in the Presence of Concomitant Impurities of Natural Waters

Abstract

The efficacy of anionic surfactant—sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate (ABS) degradation in the river waters and model solutions containing humic acid by various oxidation processes has been compared. The most effective method is photocatalytic ozonation (O3/TiO2/UV) which ensures maximum reduction of ABS concentration (94%-95% over 20–30 min) from ~5 mg/dm3to values not exceeding the MPC (<0.5 mg/dm3) and the highest degree of total organic carbon (TOC) removal (up to 74%) at the lowest values of specific ozone consumption per 1 mg/dm3of TOC compared to ozonation and O3/UV. Photocatalytic oxidation with air oxygen (O2/TiO2/UV) and O3/UV treatment provides a smaller decrease in ABS concentrations (86%–93% and 71%–87% within 20–30 min, resp.) and significantly lowers TOC removal (up to 57% and 47%, resp.). Ozonation and UV irradiation, used separately, are inefficient methods for ABS degradation (<40%), and for TOC removal (<15%).

Ozonation treatment processes for the remediation of detergent wastewater: A comprehensive review

“…Some of the main challenges of ozonation are the limited mass transfer of ozone, short lifetime of the generated ozone and ROS and the relatively high energy consumption for ozone generation [61]. The efficiency of wastewater treatment by ozonation and ozone based AOPs can also be increased by combination with other oxidising agent such as hydrogen peroxide, UV irradiation and the catalyst [24,29,70].…”

“…Treatment of anionic surfactant (sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate) wastewater with the presence of impurities such as humic acid and natural organic matter (NOM) was done by Shvadchina et al [70] using the ozonation processes such as O3, O3/UV and O3/UV/ TiO2 and photocatalytic oxidation with oxygen (O2/UV/ TiO2). The best result was shown by the combination of O3/UV/TiO2 with surfactant degradation of 86-93% and TOC removal of 74%…”