Assessment of Blast Furnace Slags as a Potential Catalyst in Ozonation to Degrade Bezafibrate: Degradation Study and Kinetic Study via Non-Parametric Modeling

This study investigates the effectiveness of blast furnace slags (BFSs) as catalysts in the ozonation process to degrade complex contaminants such as bezafibrate (BFZ) at different pH levels. The findings reveal that the presence of BFS enhances degradation efficiency, achieving a 10% improvement at pH 10 and a 30% improvement at pH 5.5 compared to simple ozonation. The highest degradation efficiency was observed in the Ozonation–BFS system at pH 10, with 90% decomposition of BFZ. These results were corroborated through ozone consumption analysis, BOD5 measurements, and the identification of oxalic acid as the final decomposition product. Due to the complexity of the reaction system, kinetic characterization was performed using non-parametric modeling based on differential neural networks. The model indicated that the observed reaction rate for BFZ degradation in the presence of ozone and BFS was 4.12 times higher at pH 5.0 and 1.08 times higher at pH 10.0 compared to simple ozonation. These results underscore the potential of using BFS in catalytic ozonation processes for the effective treatment of recalcitrant contaminants in wastewater.