Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PERFORMANCE OF WET AIR OXIDATION IN DEGRADATION OF COD IN PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY BLACK LIQUOR

R. Gunasekaran and S. Kanmani

Abstract

This study presents the performance of Wet Air Oxidation in degradation of COD in Pulp and Paper industry Black liquor, optimization of operating parameters and process kinetics of Wet Air Oxidation since it eliminates the generation of toxic and chlorinated compounds and economical treatment method. The pH, contact time and catalyst dosage were found optimized at 11, 180 minutes and 5 g/L respectively. The percentage of COD degradation was in the range of 10 to 38 without catalyst, 21 to 55 with catalyst CuO and 24-52 with catalyst ZnO respectively for the pH optimization, in the range of 08 to 51 without catalyst, 13 to 69 with catalyst CuO and 15 to 72 with catalyst ZnO respectively for the contact time optimization and in the range of 48 to 81 with catalyst CuO and 55-82 with catalyst ZnO respectively for the catalyst dosage optimization. Rate of reaction on COD degradation was behaved in first order with kinetic rate constant was 0.004. Performance of COD degradation was achieved better with catalyst ZnO.