Ozonation of o-cresol in aqueous solutions using a rotating packed-bed reactor.

Experimental results indicated that ozone transfer in the rotating packed contactor was noticeably greater than in a traditional packed-bed contactor under similar operational conditions. Ozonation in the rotating packed contactor has been shown to be feasible for achieving nearly complete decomposition of o-cresol within 1 hour. The decomposition of o-cresol by ozonation in the rotating packed contactor increased with increasing rotor speed and decreasing the gas-liquid flowrate ratio. However, the reduction of total organic carbon during the ozonation of o-cresol was not influenced by variation of rotor speed and gas-liquid flowrate ratio. The species distribution of o-cresol under various solution conditions plays a significant role in determining the decomposition behavior. In most experiments conducted in this study, the decomposition of o-cresol by ozonation was more favorable under alkaline conditions.