• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.261-277
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• 2013

The degradation of alachlor has been investigated using sonolysis (US), photocatalysis (UV) and sonophotocatalysis (US/UV) using three photocatalyst viz. $TiO_2$ (mixture of anatase and rutile), $TiO_2$ (anatase) and ZnO. The effect of photocatalyst loading on the extent of degradation of alachlor has been investigated by varying $TiO_2$ (both types) loading over the range of 0.01 g/L to 0.1 g/L and ZnO loading over the range of 0.05 g/L to 0.3 g/L. The optimum loading of the catalyst was found to be dependent on the type of operation i.e., photocatalysis alone or the combined operation of sonolysis and photocatalysis. All the combined processes gave complete degradation of alachlor with maximum rate of degradation being obtained in the case of sonophotocatalytic process also showing synergistic effect at optimized loading of photocatalyst. About 50% to 60% reduction in TOC has been obtained using the combined process of sonophotocatalysis depending on the operating conditions. The alachlor degradation fitted first order kinetics for all the processes under investigation. It has been observed that the $TiO_2$ (mixtrure of anatase and rutile) is the most active photocatalyst among the three photocatalysts studied in the current work. The effect of addition of radical enhancers and scavengers on sonophotocatalytic degradation of alachlor has been investigated in order to decipher the controlling mechanism. The alachlor degradation products have been identified using LC-MS method.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.454-463
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• 2006

refractory organic compounds in aqueous solution are not readily removed by the existing conventional wastewater treatment process. In recent years, the sonolysis and electrochemical oxidation process had been shown to be promising for wastewater treatment due to the effectiveness and easiness in operation. This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of sonolytic and electrolytic decomposition as the basic data for development of the wastewater treatment process. Trichloroethylene(TCE) and 2,4- dichlorophenol(2,4-DCP) were used as the samples, and their destruction efficiency were measured with various operating parameters, such as initial solution concentration, initial solution pH, reaction temperature, sonic power and current density. Also, the decomposition mechanism conformed indirectly with the effect of NaHCO3 as a radical scavenger on the decomposition reaction. Thermal decompositon reaction is predominant for TCE but thermal and radical decompositon reactions were dominant for 2,4-DCP. Results showed that the destruction efficiencies of all samples were above 65% within 120 minutes by sonolysis and electrolysis at the same time, and were increased with increasing initial concentration, sonic power and current density. Destruction efficiency of TCE was high in the acidic solution, but 2,4-DCP showed high destruction efficiency in basic solution.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 2000

When irradiate the power ultrasound into the aqueous solutions, water vapor is decomposed by the heat of very high temperature in the cavitation bubble to produce OH (hydroxyl radical) and H (hydrogen radical), and these radicals play a role in decomposing the substances in aqueous solution by oxidation and/or reduction, and in producing the hydrogen peroxide. Accordingly it is possible to predict that the quantity of hydrogen peroxide produced may correlate with the sonolysis mechanism of the substance in aqueous solution. Thus to confirm this prediction, the quantities of hydrogen peroxide produced from each of the air saturated distilled water and three aqueous solutions of TCE, benzene, and 2,4-DCP that are prepared by dissolving them into distilled water are measured. As a result, it showed that the quantity of hydrogen peroxide produced from the distilled water and three aqueous solutions are increased in order of distilled water>TCE solution>2,4-DCP solution>benzene solution, and decrease with decrease in concentration of organic substance, which coincide with the sonolysis mechanisms reported that TCE in aqueous solution is decomposed directly by the pyrolysis in and around the cavitation bubbles when its concentration is high and by the radical reaction when low, however, benzene and 2,4-DCP are decomposed not only by the pyrolysis but also by the radical reactions. Effects of such experimental parameters as the acoustic frequency and power and as the concentration showed that the higher the acoustic frequency and the lower the acoustic power, the less the quantity of hydrogen peroxide was produced. This result coincide with the theory of ultrasound for the relation between the cavitation that is the energy source of the power ultrasound in aqueous solution and these experimental parameters.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.845-853
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• 2012

Diethyl phthalate (DEP) is widely spread in the natural environment as an endocrine disruption chemicals (EDs). Therefore, in this study, ultrasound (US) and ultraviolet (UVC), including various applied power density (10-40 W/L), UV wavelengths (365 nm, 254 nm and 185 nm) and frequencies (283 kHz, 935 kHz) were applied to a DEP contaminated solution. The pseudo-first order degradation rate constants were in the order of $10^{-1}$ to $10^{-4}\;min^{-1}$ depending on the processes. Photolytic and sonophotolytic DEP degradation rate also were high at shortest UV wavelength (VUV) due to the higher energy of photons, higher molar absorption coefficient of DEP and increased hydroxyl radical generation from homolysis of water. Sonolytic DEP degradation rate increased with increase of applied input power and the dominant reaction mechanism of DEP in sonolysis was estimated as hydroxyl radical reaction by the addition of t-BuOH, which is a common hydroxyl radical scavenger. Moreover, synergistic effect of were also observed for sonophotolytic degradation with various UV irradiation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.231-239
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• 2011

Diethyl phthalate (DEP) and nonylphenol (NP) are widely spread in the natural environment as an endocrine disruption chemicals (EDs). Therefore, in this study, ultrasound (US) and ultraviolet (UVC), including $TiO_2$, as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were applied to a DEP and NP contaminated solution. When only the application of US, the optimum frequency for significant DEP degradation and a high rate of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) formation was 283 kHz. We know that the main mechanism of DEP degradation is radical reaction and, NP can be affected by both of radical reaction and pyrolysis through only US (sonolysis) process and combined US+UVC (sonophotolysis) process. At combined AOPs (sonophotolysis/sonophotocatalysis) such as US+UVC and US+UVC+$TiO_2$, significant degradation of DEP and NP were observed. Enhancement effect of sonophotolysis and sonophotocatalysis system of DEP and NP were 1.68/1.38 and 0.99/1.17, respectively. From these results, combined sonophotocatalytic process could be more efficient system to obtain a significant DEP and NP degradation.