Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Paracetamol Using Acid Activated and Fe/Co-Pillared Clay Catalysts Prepared from Natural Clays

Abstract

Many pharmaceuticals have been recently identified at trace levels worldwide in the aquatic environment. Among them, the highly consumed paracetamol (PCM), an analgesic and antipyretic drug, is largely being accumulated in the aquatic environment due to inefficient removal by conventional sewage treatment plants. This work deals with the treatment of PCM, used as a model pharmaceutical contaminant of emerging concern, by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation using clay-based materials as catalysts. The catalysts were prepared from natural clays, extracted from four different deposits using acid-activated treatment, calcination, and pillarization with Fe and Co. Pillared clays show the highest catalytic activity owing to the presence of metals, allowing to remove completely the PCM after 6 h under the following operating conditions: CPCM = 100 mg L−1, CH2O2 = 472 mg L−1, Ccat = 2.5 g L−1, initial pH = 3.5 and T = 80 °C. The prepared materials presented high stability since leached iron was measured at the end of reaction and found to be lower than 0.1 mg L−1.

Carbon-Based Materials for Oxidative Desulfurization and Denitrogenation of Fuels: A Review

“…ODN is mainly conducted with H 2 O 2 using iron-containing carbon materials under mild conditions (25-80 • C) for reaction times up to 3 h (achieving complete oxidation of the model molecule at lower times depending on the selected catalyst and operating conditions). The selection of iron catalyst with H 2 O 2 as oxidant may be ascribed to the reactive iron-H 2 O 2 pair, also known as Fenton-reagent [162,163].…”

Simulation and Optimization of the CWPO Process by Combination of Aspen Plus and 6-Factor Doehlert Matrix: Towards Autothermal Operation

“…Besides, a variety of agro-food effluents i.e., from coffee [26], olive oil mills [27][28][29] and wineries [30], and industrial effluents, i.e., from textile [31], pharmaceutical [32], cosmetic [33] and chemical production [34][35][36], have been suitable treated by this technology. More recently, it has also been demonstrated to be a feasible technique to reduce the impact of residual contaminants, such as persistent endocrine-disrupting chemicals [36], present in very low concentrations in urban wastewater, or antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals in sanitary wastewater [37][38][39].…”

Catalysts Prepared with Matured Compost Derived from Mechanical-Biological Treatment Plants for the Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Pollutants with Different Lipophilicity

“…Some inorganic materials, such as activated clays, are also prepared by similar methods, in which activation is typically done with an inorganic acid, followed by a thermal treatment [7,8]. Most studies dealing with the development of activated clays or carbon materials have been focused on improving the design of these materials for environmental applications, mainly for wastewater treatment [5,9,10]. As activation methods improved the textural properties of the resultant activated materials, most of them found application in adsorption processes [4,10] and catalysis [9,11].…”

“…Most studies dealing with the development of activated clays or carbon materials have been focused on improving the design of these materials for environmental applications, mainly for wastewater treatment [5,9,10]. As activation methods improved the textural properties of the resultant activated materials, most of them found application in adsorption processes [4,10] and catalysis [9,11].…”

“…Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) is a promising advanced oxidation technology, able to operate at moderate conditions (T = 25−130 • C, P = 1−5 atm), using H 2 O 2 as the oxidant to degrade organic pollutants contained in wastewater, when a suitable catalytic system is considered [12], such as catalysts based on activated clays [9], activated carbons [11], among others. We recently demonstrated that CWPO could be applied in the treatment of oily wastewater, in which lipophilic organic pollutants are mostly present in the oily phase, whereas H 2 O 2 is present in the aqueous phase [13].…”