Comparison of furfural degradation by different photooxidation methods

In this paper, the degradation of C5H4O2 "Furfural" in aqueous solution by photooxidation technology using UV, UV/H2O2, UV/H2O2/O-2, UV/H2O2/Fe2+, UV/O-2/Fe2+, O-3, UV/O-3 process and also oxidation by sodium hypochlorite was investigated in a lab-scale batch photo-reactor. To evaluate the performance of different processes, the efficiency of furfural degradation was studied by measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) throughout the experimentation. Results show that compare to other reactions studied in this research, the UV/H2O2 is a simple and effective process for furfural degradation and presence of Fe2+ ions (UV/H2O2/Fe2+) enhanced removal of furfural in solution. The influence of experimental parameters such as hydrogen peroxide dosage, pH, temperature and UV input power on furfural degradation was investigated. The rate of TOC removal was positively affected by UV source intensity. Results indicated that the efficiency of UV/H2O2 system improves by increasing the solution temperature. Increasing the temperature of the reactor reduces the concentration of dissolved oxygen but has no significant effect on the rate of furfural degradation. The effect of solution pH is also studied and concluded that pH values near neutrality improves reaction speed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.