Application of trickle bed reactors in wastewater treatment

Wastewater is regularly treated by biological technologies. In these cases, organic pollutants can be degraded by aerobic or anaerobic bacteria. However, pollutants which are released from chemical industries are non-biodegradable, so advanced oxidation technology (AOT) is embedded to this purpose. Wet air oxidation (WAO) is recently known as one method in (AOT). This is a highly cost method which can be feasible in high temperature and pressure, thus applying catalyst (catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO)) in this circumstance is totally effective. CWAO process is very economical and nature-friendly method. In this process organic pollutants in liquid phase are oxidized into carbon and water or some biodegradable components. Trickle bed reactors are appropriate for CWAO process. This method can be applied for removing formic acid, acetic acid and phenol in aqueous solution from wastewater in trickle bed reactors. Organic contaminants in the liquid phase contact with high pressure air usually at 120-310℃ passing through stationary catalyst in trickle bed reactors and are oxidized during this process.