Oxidation of refractory organics by heterogeneous Fenton to reduce organic load in tannery wastewater

The effectiveness of Fenton oxidation of tannery wastewater was investigated under different operational conditions such as pH, time and dosages of Fenton reagent (H2O2 and FeSO4 center dot 7H(2)O). Different mass ratios of Fe2+/H2O2 recorded the percentage COD reduction from 54 to 80 % in 4 h at pH 3.5. The batch study has established COD reduction by 82 % with mesoporous activated carbon (MAC(80)0) catalyst and the percentage reduction of COD was 94 % under integrated homo- and hetero-Fenton oxidations of tannery wastewater. Fenton reagent was efficient enough to oxidize most of the organic compounds present in the tannery wastewater. This was confirmed through UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and NMR spectroscopy.