Oxidative Degradation of Oxalic Acid in Aqueous Medium Using Manganese Oxide as Catalyst at Ambient Temperature and Pressure

Manganese oxide was prepared by mechano chemical process in solid phase and was characterized by physical (surface area, particle size, XRD and FTIR analyses) and chemical (surface and total oxygen content) techniques. Prepared manganese oxide was used as catalyst for oxidation/degradation of oxalic acid in aqueous medium in an agitated slurry batch reactor, where molecular oxygen was used as an oxidant. Influence of different reaction parameters like time of reaction, speed of agitation, initial concentration of oxalic acid, temperature and partial pressure of oxygen on oxidation/degradation of oxalic acid was investigated. About 71.5% of oxalic acid (20 mL of 0.017 M) was degraded with in 1 h. The oxidation/degradation reaction followed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood type of mechanism. Curve Expert software was used for kinetic analysis.