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U.S. Department of Energy
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Investigation into the chemistry of the uv-ozone purification process. Annual report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5587477

This report describes the first year of a study of the synergistic effect of ozone and UV light in the decomposition of organic compounds in water. The UV-ozone process has proven to be effective in degrading certain classes of organic pollutants, but the chemical and photo-chemical mechanisms involved are not well understood. The study was designed to formulate hypotheses from experiments on model organic compounds in water solution involving ozonation with and without UV light and treatment with reagents which generate OH radicals. It was determined that ozonation and UV-ozonation of nitrobenzene, selected as a primary model compound,followed identical sequence of reactions via mono-, di-, and trihydroxylation of the benzene ring; the major stable intermediates were oxalic acid, formic acid, and glyoxal. For all oxidation systems and all model compounds (nitrobenzene, anisole, benzoic acid, and 3-chlorobenzoic acid) the kinetics were pseudo-first order.

Research Organization:
Westgate Research Corp., Los Angeles, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
5587477
Report Number(s):
PB-296485
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English