Degradation of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution by cordierite-catalyzed ozonation

A series of laboratory studies has been undertaken on the ozonation of nitrobenzene (NB) in the presence of the cordierite. Comparative experiments of ozonation alone and the cordierite-catalytic ozonation were conducted with NB as the model organic pollutant. It was found that O₃/cordierite could greatly increase the degradation efficiency of NB as compared with that achieved by O₃ alone. The result suggests that the adsorption of NB on the cordierite observed in this study does not significantly affect the degradation efficiency of NB. The degradation rate of nitrobenzene increased with the amount of catalysts increasing. The nitrobenzene dissolved in tap water generally got better degradation efficiency than that dissolved in distilled water. The multiple steps addition of ozone showed a higher degradation rate than that obtained by adding within one step before the start of the experiment both in process of O₃ alone and O₃/cordierite. Under the same experimental conditions, cordierite had a relative longer lifetime as a catalyst.