A Short Review of Techniques for Phenol Removal from Wastewater

• Published in: Current pollution reports Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 157 - 167
• Main Authors: Villegas, Laura G. Cordova, Mashhadi, Neda, Chen, Miao, Mukherjee, Debjani, Taylor, Keith E., Biswas, Nihar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.09.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: absorption; Acids; Activated carbon; Adsorbents; Adsorption; air; Aquatic Pollution; Aqueous solutions; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biological treatment; Bisphenol A; Chemical treatment; Distillation; Earth and Environmental Science; Electrochemical oxidation; Electrochemistry; Energy conservation; Energy costs; Environment; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; enzymatic treatment; Equilibrium; Industrial Pollution Prevention; laccase; Low concentrations; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nanoparticles; Oxidation; Ozonation; peroxidases; Phenolic compounds; Phenols; Photochemicals; photochemistry; Pollutants; Pollution; Potash; Potassium; Section Editor; Surfactants; Topical Collection on Water Pollution; Toxicity; Waste Water Technology; wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water Management; Water Pollution (S Sengupta; Water Pollution Control; Wet oxidation; Wet oxidation process; Degradation; Phenol; Treatment; Remediation; Wastewater; Hazardous
• ISSN: 2198-6592; 2198-6592
• DOI: 10.1007/s40726-016-0035-3

Phenolic compounds are priority pollutants with high toxicity even at low concentrations. In this review, the efficiency of both conventional and advanced treatment methods is discussed. The applicability of these treatments with phenol and some common derivatives is compared. Conventional treatments such as distillation, absorption, extraction, chemical oxidation, and electrochemical oxidation show high efficiencies with various phenolic compounds, while advanced treatments such as Fenton processes, ozonation, wet air oxidation, and photochemical treatment use less chemicals compared to the conventional ones but have high energy costs. Compared to physico-chemical treatment, biological treatment is environmentally friendly and energy saving, but it cannot treat high concentration pollutants. Enzymatic treatment has proven to be the best way to treat various phenolic compounds under mild conditions with different enzymes such as peroxidases, laccases, and tyrosinases. This review covers papers from 2013 through January 2016.