Low Temperature Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation: Advanced Treatment Technology for Wastewater Containing Organic Contaminants

Depending on the pollutant type, certain wastewater treatment technologies can be very energy intensive. This "Diplomarbiet" looks at Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (CWAO) for treatment of organic contaminated waste water. With an aim to reduce energy consumption a new catalyst was designed to enable total oxidation of organic contaminants in water at a much lower temperature compared to existing catalysts. This in turn allows to operate the CWAO at much lower operating pressures as compared to conventional CWAO utilizing noble metal catalysts. The catalyst also demonstrated good stability and activity over extended period and no significant leaching was observed. Low temperature CWAO is an effective technology for treatment of organic contaminated waste and its application range can be extended if coupled with other wastewater treatment technologies.