NATURAL WATERS AND INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER, WASTEWATER WITH PHENOL-CONTAINING COMPOUNDS, METHODS OF WATER PURIFICATION

Water pollution is one of the main causes of imbalance in the Earth’s ecosystem. Plant effluents have different compositions and concentrations of pollutants, depending on the kind of production and the water supply and sewerage system. The main sources of phenol-containing wastewater are coking plants, coke oven gas plants, semi-coking plants, gas generating stations, wood heat treatment plants, and the synthesis of artificial liquid fuels. They can also be the result of the activities of metallurgical plants, oil refineries, enterprises for the recovery of rubber, and the production of film, phenolphthalein, salicylic acid, and salol. Phenolic waters are dangerous for fishery reservoirs, worsen the organoleptic properties of water, and disrupt the natural processes of water self-purification. Water contaminated with phenolic wastewater contributes to the deterioration of groundwater quality. Thus, high-quality water purification from phenol to reduce/maximum prevent the ingress of phenols into industrial and drinking water is an urgent problem. Methods for deep treatment of phenolic wastewater are regenerative and destructive. The technology for purifying phenolic wastewater using the processes of oxidation of phenolic compounds with atmospheric oxygen on heterogeneous catalysts is one of the most promising technologies. Nanodisperse catalysts used to treat wastewater containing aromatic hydrocarbons and, in particular, phenolic compounds, should provide a high rate of oxidation of phenolic pollutants, efficient oxidation of a wide range of compounds with various functional groups, low cost, and long service life without a noticeable loss of catalytic properties, as well as high mechanical strength and immunity to catalytic poisons. Catalysts based on various metals and metal oxides and carrier-based systems, oxide-based magnetic composites show good efficiency in the oxidation of phenol with oxygen.