Advanced wastewater treatment by efficient catalytic ozonation with a unique designed core-multishell catalyst
The research team led by Prof. Xiaoyuan Zhang at School of Environment, Tsinghua University, published a research article entitled “Ni-induced C-Al2O3-framework (NiCAF) Supported Core-multishell Catalysts for Efficient Catalytic Ozonation: A Structure-to-performance Study” in Environmental Science & Technology on June 18th, 2019.This article has been featured as the front cover for the current issue.
Front Cover of Environmental Science & Technology (Volume 53, issue 12)
From lab-scale design, mechanism study, scale production to practical application
China is a big coal-chemical country. Highly developed coal-chemical technologies, such as the coal gasification process, lead to a production of wastewaters, which are difficult for treatment or reclamation by traditional technologies and therefore result into a burden to environment.
In terms of the main challenges in conventional catalyst supports – the inferior surface activity of spherule Al2O3 and the relatively vulnerable structure of granular activated carbon (GAC), Xiaoyuan Zhang’s group provided novel ideas and practical solutions to remedy these remaining problems in catalytic ozonation. By integrating the mechanical stability of alumina and the surface activity of carbon into a unique C-Al2O3-framework, an efficient NiCAF-based catalyst with a core-multishell structure was thereby created. A thorough investigation of this catalyst was conducted, which utilized lab-scale tests and mechanistic study, and then proceeded directly to a pilot-scale demonstration.
During the long-term treatment of coal-gasification wastewater (~5 m3 d-1), the NiCAF-based catalyst revealed a 120% increase in ozone utilization efficiency (ΔCOD/ΔO3=2.12) compared to that of pure ozonation (0.96), and a 75% reduction of energy consumption was thereby obtained. These findings highlighted catalysts supported on NiCAF as a facile and efficient approach to achieve both high catalytic activity and excellent structural stability, which could provide novel solutions for existing problems in catalytic ozonation for advanced wastewater treatment and water reclamation processes.
Prof. Xiaoyuan Zhang is the corresponding author of this work. Post-doc Kajia Wei is the first author. Prof Xia Huang, Prof. Peng Liang, Dr. Xiaoxin Cao, and M.S. student Wancong Gu contributed to this work. This work is supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFB0600502), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51778326) and Special Fund for State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control (Grant No. 18L01ESPC).
Original Publication：
Source：School of Environment
Editor：Guo Lili
