ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Nitrobenzene degradation by micro-sized iron and electron efficiency evaluation

Cheng-Qiang Wu, Dan-Ting Fu, and Xiao Chen

College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310000, China

E-mail: wucq@zjut.edu.cn

Abstract: The effect of pH, temperature, zero-valent iron (ZVI) dosage and reaction duration on nitrobenzene (NB) degradation by micro-sized ZVI was investigated in batch experiments and the electron efficiency (EE) was evaluated at constant pH. The experimental results showed that the reaction rate constant attained 0.616 min⁻¹, which was far higher than reported in previous studies. The decrease in pH and increase in temperature of the reaction bath promoted the reaction kinetics. ZVI dosage and reaction duration were two key factors affecting NB reduction and EE. A lower ZVI dosage and a slightly longer reaction duration could afford an optimised EE and optimum NB removal. A prolonged reaction or too high a ZVI dosage resulted in increased ZVI waste.

Keywords: zero-valent iron – nitrobenzene – reaction parameters – electron efficiency

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-014-0573-3

Chemical Papers 68 (10) 1350–1357 (2014)