Kinetic study of the regeneration of spent caustic via the genetic algorithm method

Abstract

Background: Spent caustic contains noxious components such as sulfide species and also high chemical oxygen demand content (COD). Oxidation of these materials to caustic and sulfate species is mostly the rate-controlling step within catalytic oxidation of spent caustic. Methods: In this study, the kinetics of catalytic oxidation of spent caustic and the regeneration methodology of the sulfidic spent caustic were investigated. The kinetics of catalytic oxidation of spent caustic was studied in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst. The developed mathematical model was verified via the batch bubble column reactor. The elementary and non-elementary models based on the genetic algorithm were used to obtain the rate coefficient and kinetic order. Results: The experiments were carried out at various conditions. The results indicated that the error of objective function of the non-elementary and elementary models was 3.01% and 134.96%, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results, the non-elementary model had rational outcome compared to the elementary one. Also, non-elemental model is more concordance with experimental results.