The remediation of textile wastewater using solid Bauxite Residue waste as a potential Fenton catalyst in the fluidized bed Fenton process

Abstract

Abstract The synergistic relationship between the reactor and the catalysts has gained immense popularity in the field of Chemical Engineering due to their wide application. Catalytic processes have evolved over the decades from expensive commercial catalysts to low-cost solid waste catalysts for the sustainable development and reduction of their impacts on the environment. This alternative use of solid waste can greatly decrease the cost of wastewater treatment and addresses solid wastes issues. Bauxite Residue (BR) is one such waste from alumina-based industries with excellent catalytic properties. The fluid dynamics of fluidized bed technology improves profoundly the hydrodynamics and mass transfer of the heterogeneous Fenton process. This paper presents the preparation of the catalyst with minimum processing effort. It was characterized and factors affecting the degradation efficiency of synthetic dye wastewater were investigated. The optimum conditions for the eosin yellow dye were observed at a pH of five, oxidant concentration of 30 mM, catalyst dosage of 4 g/L. The removal efficiency at these optimum conditions was observed to be 91%. The residence time distribution (RTD) study was aimed to determine the behavior of the reactor using the mean residence time, variance, and dispersion number for the fluidized bed reactor.