Advanced oxidation of catechol: A comparison among photocatalysis, Fenton and photo-Fenton processes

The aim of this work was to compare the behaviour of Fenton, photo-Fenton and photocatalysis processes to treat catechol solutions which are pollutants occurring in wastewaters from many industries. The effect of different process parameters, such as initial catechol concentration, H₂O₂/FeSO₄ ratio in Fenton and photo-Fenton oxidation, TiO₂ loadings in photocatalysis and irradiation times has been studied.Fenton and photo-Fenton (H₂O₂/FeSO₄ = 600/500 (w/w) and 30 min reaction time) processes allowed us to achieve a high efficiency in the mineralization of catechol (COD removals up to 83% and 96% respectively), and removal of aromaticity (UV₂₈₀) (up to 93% and 98% respectively), for an initial catechol concentration of 110 mg/l. On the opposite, photocatalysis was not effective in the removal of higher catechol concentrations (110 and 200 mg/l), whereas a significant removal of aromaticity versus time was observed for 50 mg/l. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, performed under selected treatment conditions, showed that total removal of catechol can occur after Fenton (2000/500 w/w; 30 min), photo-Fenton (600/500 w/w; 30 min), and photocatalysis (3 g TiO₂/l; 240 min) treatments.