Ozonation using microbubbles formed by electric fields

Won Tae Shin, Arshia Mirmiran, Sotira Yiacoumi, Costas Tsouris

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

The use of ozone in water and wastewater treatment systems has been shown to be a process that is limited by mass transfer. The most effective way to overcome this limitation is to increase the interfacial area available for mass transfer by decreasing the size of the ozone gas bubbles that are dispersed in solution. Electrostatic spraying (ES) of ozone into water was investigated in this work as a method of increasing the rate of mass transfer of ozone into a solution and thereby increasing the rate of phenol oxidation. The studies were conducted in a 30 cm column of 7.5 cm internal diameter, using deionized water and phenol as the solution phase and an ozone-oxygen mixture, generated by a corona-discharge ozone generator, as the gas phase. Results were obtained for ES at input power levels ranging from 0 to 4 kV and compared with two different pore-size bubble diffusers (10-15 μm and 40-60 μm). It was determined that the rate of mass transfer could be increased by as much as 40% when the applied voltage was increased from 0 to 4 kV as a result of the smaller bubbles generated by ES. In addition, ES was shown to be more effective than the medium-pore-size (10-15 μm) bubble diffuser; the best results were achieved at low gas flow rates. Phenol oxidation rates were also compared for ES and the medium-pore-size bubble diffuser, and the results indicate that the increased mass transfer rate achieved by ES enhances the rate of removal of phenol from solution.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)271-282
Number of pages12
JournalSeparation and Purification Technology
Volume15
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 3 1999

Funding

Support for this research by the Electric Power Research Institute is gratefully acknowledged. Support to Arshia Mirmiran through a graduate research fellowship provided by Metcalf and Eddy is also acknowledged. We appreciate stimulating discussions with Dr Charles H. Byers and Dr David W. DePaoli. We are also grateful to Martha Stewart for editing the manuscript.

Keywords

  • Bubble column
  • Electrostatic spraying
  • Microbubbles
  • Ozonation

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