Skip to main content
Log in

Submerged arc plasma system combined with ozone oxidation for the treatment of wastewater containing non-degradable organic compounds

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Submerged arc plasma technology was assessed for the removal of phenols from wastewater. The OH radicals generated from the boundary between the plasma and waste solution were considered as a significant factor on the degradation reaction. In this study, the effects of highly energetic electrons released from the submerged arc plasma were mainly studied. The highly energetic electrons directly broke the strong chemical bond and locally increased the reaction temperatures in solution. The effects of the submerged-arc plasma on the decomposition of phenol are discussed in terms of the input energy and initial concentration. The single use of submerged arc plasma easily decomposed the phenol but did not increase the mineralization efficiency. Therefore, the submerged arc plasma, coupled with the ozone injection, was investigated. The submerged arc plasma combined with ozone injection had a synergic effect, which led to significant improvements in mineralization with only a small increase in input energy. The decomposition mechanism of phenol by the submerged arc plasma with the ozone was analyzed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdullah N, Yusof N, Lau W J, Jaafar J, Ismail A F (2019). Recent trends of heavy metal removal from water/wastewater by membrane technologies. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 76(25): 17–38

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Asghar A, Raman A A A, Daud W M A W (2015). Advanced oxidation processes for in-situ production of hydrogen peroxide/hydroxyl radical for textile wastewater treatment: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 87(15): 826–838

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bora B, Aomoa N, Kakati M (2010). Characteristics and temperature measurement ofa non-transferred cascaded DC plasma torch. Plasma Science & Technology, 12(2): 181–187

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bruggeman P, Schram D C (2010). On OH production in water containing atmospheric pressure plasmas. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 19(4): 1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cai Y, Ben T, Zaidi A A, Shi Y, Zhang K, Lin A, Liu C (2019). Effect of pH on pollutants removal of ship sewage treatment in an innovative aerobic-anaerobic micro-sludge MBR system. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 230: 163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crini G, Lichtfouse E (2019). Advantages and disadvantages of techniques used for wastewater treatment. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 17: 145–155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daverey A, Pandey D, Verma P, Verma S, Shah V, Dutta K, Arunachalam K (2019). Recent advances in energy efficient biological treatment of municipal wastewater. Bioresource Technology Reports, 7: 100252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du C M, Yan J H (2017). Degradation and discoloration of textile dyes using gliding arc plasma combined with fenton catalysis. In: Du C, Yan J, eds. Plasma Remediation Technology for Environmental Protection. Singapore: Springer-Verlag Singapore Pte Ltd. 21–39

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fang Y, Hariu D, Yamamoto T, Komarov S (2019). Acoustic cavitation assisted plasma forwastewatertreatment: Degradation of Rhodamine B in aqueous solution. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 52: 318–325

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fux C, Boehler M, Huber P, Brunner I, Siegrist H (2002). Biological treatment of ammonium-rich wastewater by partial nitritation and subsequent anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) in a pilot plant. Journal of Biotechnology, 99(3): 295–306

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He L, Tan T, Gao Z, Fan L (2019). The shock effect of inorganic suspended solids in surface runoff on wastewater treatment plant performance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3): 453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herrmann-Heber R, Reinecke S F, Hampel U (2019). Dynamic aeration for improved oxygen mass transfer in the wastewater treatment process. Chemical Engineering Journal, 386: 122068

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Itikawa Y, Mason N (2005). Cross sections for electron collisions with water molecules. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 34(1): 1–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi A A, Locke B R, Arce P, Finney W C (1995). Formation of hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide and aqueous electrons by pulsed streamer corona discharge in aqueous solution. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 41(1): 3–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi R P, Thagard S M (2013). Streamer-like electrical discharges in water: Part II. Environmental applications. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 33: 17–49

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee D, Lee J C, Nam J Y, Kim H W (2018). Degradation ofsulfonamide antibiotics and their intermediates toxicity in an aeration-assisted non-thermal plasma while treating strong wastewater. Chemosphere, 209: 901–907

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Li J, Bai J, Zeng Q, Xia L, Zhang Y, Chen S, Xu Q, Zhou B (2019). The effect and mechanism of organic pollutants oxidation and chemical energy conversion for neutral wastewater via strengthening reactive oxygen species. Science of the Total Environment, 651(Part 1): 1226–1235

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu F, Wang W, Wang S, Zheng W, Wang Y (2007). Diagnosis of OH radical by optical emission spectroscopy in a wire-plate bi-directional pulsed corona discharge. Journal of Electrostatics, 65(7): 445–451

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J L, Park H W, Hamdan A, Cha M S (2018). In-liquid arc plasma jet and its application to phenol degradation. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 51(11): 114005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Tian J, Li Y, Sun N, Mi S, Xie Y, Chen Z (2019). Enhanced dyes adsorption from wastewater via Fe3O4 nanoparticles functionalized activated carbon. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 373(5): 397–407

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu W, Abbas Y, Mustafa M F, Pan C, Wang H (2019). A review on application of dielectric barrier discharge plasma technology on the abatement of volatile organic compounds. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(2): 30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas M S, Peres J A, Li Puma G (2010). Treatment of winery wastewater by ozone-based advanced oxidation processes (O3,O3/UV and O3/UV/H2O2) in a pilot-scale bubble column reactor and process economics. Separation and Purification Technology, 72(3): 235–241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Malik S N, Khan S M, Ghosh P C, Vaidya A N, Kanade G, Mudliar S N (2019). Treatment of pharmaceutical industrial wastewater by nanocatalyzed ozonation in a semi-batch reactor for improved biodegradability. Science of the Total Environment, 678(15): 114–122

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mandal T, Maity S, Dasgupta D, Datta S (2010). Advanced oxidation process and biotreatment: Their roles in combined industrial wastewater treatment. Desalination, 250(1): 87–94

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Narengerile, Yuan M H, Watanabe T (2011). Decomposition mechanism of phenol in water plasmas by DC discharge at atmospheric pressure. Chemical Engineering Journal, 168(3): 985–993

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ni G, Zhao G, Jiang Y, Li J, Meng Y, Wang X (2013a). Steam plasma jet treatment of phenol in aqueous solution at atmospheric pressure. Plasma Processes and Polymers, 10(4): 353–363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ni G H, Zhao Y, Meng Y D, Wang X K, Toyoda H (2013b). Steam plasma jet for treatment of contaminated water with high-concentration 1,4-dioxane organic pollutants. Europhysics Letters, 101(4): 45001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ono R, Oda T (2001). OH radical measurement in a pulsed arc discharge plasma observed by a LIF method. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 37(3): 709–714

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oturan M A, Aaron J J (2014). Advanced oxidation processes in water/wastewater treatment: Principles and applications. A review. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 44(23): 2577–2641

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Park J H, Shin D S, Lee J K (2019). Treatment of high-strength animal industrial wastewater using photo-assisted fenton oxidation coupled to photocatalytic technology. Water (Switzerland), 11(8): 1553

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith D P, Smith N T (2019). Recovery of wastewater nitrogen for solanum lycopersicum propagation. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 10: 1191–1202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder S C, Reynolds L D, Lassahn G D, Fincke J R, Shaw Jr C B, Kearney R J (1993). Determination of gas-temperature and velocity profiles in an argon thermal-plasma jet by laser-light scattering. Physical Review E: Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, 47(3): 1996–2005

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang S, Lu N, Li J, Shang K, Wu Y (2013). Improved phenol decomposition and simultaneous regeneration of granular activated carbon by the addition of a titanium dioxide catalyst under a dielectric barrier discharge plasma. Carbon, 53: 380–390

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J L, Xu L J (2012). Advanced oxidation processes for wastewater treatment: Formation of hydroxyl radical and application. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 42(3): 251–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei J, Ge J, Rouff A A, Wen X, Meng X, Song Y (2019). Phosphorus recovery from wastewater using light calcined magnesite, effects of alkalinity and organic acids. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 7(5): 103334

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu X W, Shi H X, Wang D H (2005). Ozonation with ultrasonic enhancement of /)-nitrophenol wastewater. Journal of Zhejiang University. Science, 6(5): 319–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yasar A, Ahmad N, Khan A A A, Yousaf A (2007). Decolorization of Blue CL-BR dye by AOPs using bleach wastewater as source of H2O2. Journal of Environmental Sciences-China, 19(10): 1183–1188

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan M H,Narengerile, Watanabe T, Chang C Y (2010). DC water plasma at atmospheric pressure for the treatment of aqueous phenol. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(12): 4710–4715

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (No. 20194030202340) and by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2019R1A2C1006816).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dong-Wha Park or Jinsub Choi.

Additional information

Highlights

• Submerged arc plasma was introduced in terms of wastewater treatment.

• Ozone oxidation was coupled with submerged arc plasma system.

• Ozone was converted into O and O2 by submerged arc plasma.

• Decomposition rate was accelerated by submerged arc plasma.

• Introduction of ozone led to significant increase in mineralization.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, B., Jo, E.S., Park, DW. et al. Submerged arc plasma system combined with ozone oxidation for the treatment of wastewater containing non-degradable organic compounds. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 15, 90 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1384-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1384-0

Keywords

Navigation