Optimization of the combined adsorption/photo-Fenton method for the simultaneous removal of phenol and paracetamol in a binary system

The coupling of adsorption and photo-Fenton processes has been studied for the simultaneous removal of phenol and paracetamol from aqueous systems. Photo-Fenton process exhibited the complete elimination of phenol and paracetamol during 1 h. For mineralization of contact time, the adsorption process was combined to the photo-Fenton process. The both NaX nanozeolites and cobalt ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized by microwave heating method and were used through the adsorption and photo-Fenton processes, respectively. The nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and SEM analysis. The Box-Behnken design was applied to evaluate the effect of key parameters including pH (3-4), phenol initial concentration (20-100 mg L-1), paracetamol initial concentration (20-100 mg L-1) and NaX to cobalt ferrite nanoparticles ratio (0.5-1.5) on the simultaneous removal of phenol and paracetamol at contact time of 30 min. By optimization of parameters, the removal percentages of phenol and paracetamol were found to be 99.95% and 99.80%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the coupling of adsorption and photo-Fenton processes is an alternative method to eliminate the phenolic compounds from wastewaters. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.