Catalytic Wet Oxidation of Ferulic acid: Reaction Kinetics and Oxidation Pathway
Catalytic Wet Oxidation (CWO) is the technology resulting in oxidative degradation of refractory organics from industrial effluents to harmless carbon dioxide and water at low temperature and pressure using a catalyst(1). Pulp and paper mill effluents contain harmful refractory organics, which are difficult to be converted into environmentally benign products at low temperature and pressure. Lignin, in particular, is the main source of organics present in pulp and paper mill effluents. In this study, we have studied the reaction kinetics and oxidation pathway for low temperature CWO of ferulic acid, a model lignin compound. Based on our previous studies(2-3), we have selected one of the most active heterogeneous catalysts, Cu/Ni/Ce/Al2O3, as a catalyst for this study. We have intentionally worked within the low oxidative range of reaction in order to understand the kinetic mechanism. Based on GC-MS analysis, we found vanillin and 2-methoxy-4-vinalyphenol as the major intermediate compounds. Reaction scheme and kinetics model has been proposed using Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics theory. The proposed model has been validated against experimental results using in-house developed METLAB program.
Keywords: Catalytic wet oxidation, wet oxidation, heterogeneous catalyst, reaction kinetics, reaction pathway
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1.Suresh Bhargava, James Tardio, Jaidev Prasad, Karl Foger, Deepak Akolekar, Stephen Grocott.Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2006), 45(4), 1221-1258.
2.Suresh Bhargava, James Tardio, Harit Jani, Deepak Akolekar, Manh Hoang, Karl Foger. Catalysis Surveys in Asia, 2006 (submitted - invited article)
3.Harit Jani, Suresh Bhargava, James Tardio, Deepak Akolekar, Manh Hoang. International Journal of Environmental Technology, and Management, 2006 (accepted)