Progress of catalytic wet air oxidation technology

Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) is one of the most economical and environmental-friendly advanced oxidation process for high strength, toxic, hazardous and non-biodegradable contaminants under milder conditions, which is developed on the basic of wet air oxidation. Various heterogeneous catalysts including noble metals and metal oxides have been extensively studied to enhance the efficiency of CWAO. The advances in the research on wastewater treatment by CWAO process are summarized in aspects of reaction mechanism investigation, reaction kinetics study and catalyst development. It is pointed out that the preparation of active and stable catalysts, the investigation on reaction mechanisms and the study on reaction kinetics models are very important for the promotion of CWAO application. (C) 2012 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.