UV-catalytic treatment of spent caustic from ethene plant with hydrogen peroxide and ozone oxidation

The performance of UV/H 2O 2, UV/O 3 and UV/H 2O 2/O 3 oxidation systems for treating spent caustic from an ethylene plant was investigated. In UV/H 2O 2 system, with the increase of H 2O 2 dosage, removal efficiencies of COD and the ratio of biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) to chemical oxygen demand(COD) of the effluent were increased and a better performance was obtained than the H 2O 2 system alone. In UV/H 2O 2 system, removal efficiency of COD reach 68% under the optimum condition, and BOD/COD ratio was significantly increased from 0 22 to 0 52. In UV/O 3 system, with the increase of O 3 dosage, removal efficiency of COD and BOD/COD ratio were increased, and a better performance was obtained than the O 3 system alone. Under the optimum condition, removal efficiency of COD was 54%, and BOD/COD ratio was significantly increased from 0 22 to 0 48. In UV/H 2O 2/O 3 system, COD removal efficiency was found to be 22.0% higher than UV/O 3 system.