OZONE OXIDATION OF PHENOLIC EFFLUENTS
Carl Nebel, Manager
Ronald D. Gottschling, Engineer
John L. Holmes, Engineer
Paul C. Unangst. Engineer
Welsbach Ozone Systems Corporation
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129
INTRODUCTION
A wide spectrum of industrial processes employs phenolic materials.   A portion of
these materials leave the manufacturing facility as phenol-laden aqueous wastes.   These
phenolic wastes are largely resistant to biological degradation in the municipal wastewater
treatment plant.   The pollution of municipal water supplies by phenol-bearing wastes has
become a serious problem in almost every major city in the United States.   Minute concentrations (2.5 ppb or 0.00000025%) cause objectionable tastes in potable water and
may also taint the flesh of fish.   Larger concentrations not only kill the fish, but completely destroy all life in the stream.   Phenolic wastes are a health hazard to humans
because of their high toxicity.   In fact, phenol (carbolic acid) is such a powerful poison
that it is used as a standard of comparison to determine the effectiveness of disinfectants.
When phenol-laden waters are purified with chlorine at the wastewater or potable water
treatment plant, the chlorine added to the water reacts with phenol to yield orthochloro-
phenol.   Thus chlorophenol is more toxic and more odoriferous, and has a more objectionable taste, than phenol itself.   Various chlorophenols are used as pesticides and are
chemically related to DDT.   Pentachlorophenol is so toxic that it destroys all forms of
life; commercially it is used as a wood preservative.
It has been said that a truly efficient industry would utilize all its end products and
thus have no effluent problems.   However, under modern technological methods, it is
most often cheaper to purchase many raw materials than to recover them.   Phenol, now
being sold for 27<//lb, is an excellent example.
PROPERTIES AND USES OF PHENOL
Phenol is a fundamental building block of our industrial society.   The domestic production of phenol in 1974 was approximately 2,475,000,000 lb, or about 11.7 lb for
each inhabitant.   It is utilized in manufacturing or produced as a side-product in the following industries:   coking, domestic gas, insulation, paint, paper, plastics, pharmaceuticals,
oil and gasoline, steel, textiles and wood.
Phenol is one of the most commercially important aromatic chemicals.   Its uses in
order of approximate volume of production are:   phenolic resins (Bakelite), epoxy resins
(Bisphenol A), nylon-6, 2,4-D weed killers, solvent for refining lubricating oils, adipic
acid, salicylic acid (aspirin), pentachlorophenol, acetophenetidin, picric acid, germicidal
paints and pharmaceuticals.   Thus it can be seen that the wide industrial usage of this
poisonous chemical makes it one of the greatest single waste pollutants found in our
streams.
Phenol or hydroxylated benzene has the empirical formula of C6H60 which the organn-
chemist represents with an aromatic ring structure and a hydroxyl group:
„OH
O'
Pure phenol is a colorless crystalline solid that melts at 43 C and boils at 181 C.   II
solubility in water is 9.3 g/100 g of water.   Phenol has a distinctive odor and a sharp
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