Effects of reaction conditions on nuclear laundry water treatment in Fenton process

This study presents the efficiency of Fenton process in the degradation of organic compounds of nuclear laundry water. The influence of Fe2+ and hydrogen peroxide ratio, hydrogen peroxide dose, pH and treatment time were investigated. The degradation of non-ionic surfactant and other organic compounds was analysed as COD, TOC and molecular weight distribution (MWD). The most cost-effective degradation conditions were at H2O2/Fe2+ stoichiometric molar ratio of 2 with 5 min mixing and H2O2 dose of 1000 mg l(-1). With the initial pH of 6. the reductions of COD and TOC were 85% and 69%, respectively. However, the removal of the organic compounds was mainly carried out by Fenton-based Fe3+ coagulation rather than Fenton oxidation. Fenton process proved to be much more efficient than previously performed ozone-based oxidation processes. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.