Removal of 1,4-Dioxane from Wastewater by Copper Oxide Catalyzed WAO with Mild Condition

¹ China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 3 Yinlian Road, 201306, Shanghai, P. R. China
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China
³ Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China

^* Corresponding author: ruozixj@sjtu.edu.cn, fmjin@sjtu.edu.cn

Abstract

1,4-Dioxane is a contaminant of emerging concern that is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a likely human carcinogen. Moreover, 1,4-dioxane easily migrates to groundwater due to its high solubility in water and hard to be biodegraded or removed by traditional water treatment technology. Therefore, it is indispensable to develop new methods and technologies to dispose of 1,4-dioxane in the wastewater. Herein, this study presented catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) with CuO as a catalyst and O₂ as an oxidant to treat 1,4-dioxane and investigated the influence of reaction conditions, including temperature, reaction time, oxygen content, catalyst addition and pH, on the degradation of 1,4-dioxane. The highest degradation rate (R) of 1,4-dioxane was 95.8 % when the optimal reaction conditions were at 200 °C and 1 MPa O₂ for 60 min with 5 mmol CuO added. If the effect of Cu²⁺ dissolution was not considered, the R of 1,4-dioxane is up to 99.8 % was achieved at an acidic condition (pH=3) with 2 mmol CuO added.