TITLE:
Anaerobic Digestion of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater Pre-Treated with Catalytic Wet Peroxide Photo-Oxidation Using Copper Supported Pillared Clay Catalysts
AUTHORS:
R. Ben Achma, A. Ghorbel, A. Dafinov, F. Medina
KEYWORDS:
Copper, Pillared Clay, Wet Hydrogen Peroxide Catalytic Oxidation, Anaerobic Digestion
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.2 No.6,
June
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: Because phenolic compounds are toxic for
methanogenic bacteria many problems concerning the high toxicity and biodegradability
of the olive oil mill wastewater (OMW) have been encountered during anaerobic
treatments of this effluent. In this work, we try to develop a new catalytic
process for the degradation of phenolic compounds, producing less toxic OMW for
methanogenic bacteria, facilitating the anaerobic digestion. This process
consists of an oxidative reaction using copper supported on alumina pillared
clay in presence of a photocatalytic system (H2O2 with UV light). Preliminary
results showed that the use of the copper supported catalyst in presence of
0.88% H2O2 (v/v) allows after 2 h colour reduction (25%), significant abatement
of total organic carbon (40%), and important removal of polyphenolic compounds
(63%) especially those of high molecular mass and subsequently decreases the
OMW toxicity from 100% to 70%. This catalytic pre-treatment process of OMW was
efficient for anaerobic digestion.