Performance of a Fenton reactor on an industrial scale applied to the removal of phenols in a waste recovery plant from the pulp and paper industry

This paper describes the performance of a Fenton reactor on an industrial scale applied to the removal of phenols in a waste recovery plant from the pulp and paper industry. The effluent consists of vegetal oil and phenol. The treatment plant is designed to treat 4 m3 h-1 and consists of a pre-treatment for oil removal, a Fenton reactor and an extended aeration tank. Internal and external analyses of the effluent were performed in order to evaluate the treatment plant. The overall efficiency of phenol removal was higher than 99.7%. It was demonstrated that the combination of biological and advanced oxidative process is a promising method of removing recalcitrant contaminants.