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Land Contamination
Published in Daniel T. Rogers, Environmental Compliance Handbook, 2023
Phenol is a group of organic compounds with a hydroxyl group (-OH) attached to a carbon atom in a benzene ring. Phenol compounds do occur naturally, and their presence in plant foliage discourages herbivores from consuming the plant material (Fetzer 2000; McMurry 2009). Figure 3.8 is a diagram showing the basic structure of a phenol molecule. The simplest phenol compound is carbolic acid (C6H5OH), also called phenol.
Advanced Oxidation Processes and Bioremediation Techniques for Treatment of Recalcitrant Compounds Present in Wastewater
Published in Maulin P. Shah, Sweta Parimita Bera, Günay Yıldız Töre, Advanced Oxidation Processes for Wastewater Treatment, 2022
Apoorva Sharma, Praveen Dahiya
Increased contamination of water resources by phenol has become an issue of growing concern. Phenol is a very harmful contaminant as it has detrimental effects on human health, causing digestive problems, necrosis, liver problems and kidney damage. It is a known carcinogen and is of great concern even when present at low concentrations. Therefore, the treatment of phenolic wastewater becomes a necessity. Phenolic compounds can be found in several industrial chemicals, petroleum refineries, coke gasifiers, metals, medicinal plants, pesticides, plastics and organic chemical plants (Mohan et al. 2005; Shah 2020a).
Technical Applicability
Published in Gerard F. Arkenbout, Melt Crystallization Technology, 2021
Phenol is a basic intermediate in the manufacture of bisphenol A, caprolactam, alkyl phenols, adipic acid, salicylic acid, phenolic resins (thermosetting resins), herbicides, dyes and a variety of miscellaneous products. More than 98% of the phenol is made synthetically. The standard synthetic phenol process involves, first, the alkylation of benzene with propylene to form cumene, which is oxidized to the corresponding hydroperoxide and cleaved to form phenol and acetone. The reaction mixture is distilled in a seven-column system to remove cumene, water, mesityl oxide and α-methylstyrene. The major problem in phenol purification is the separation of unreacted cumene and other light end impurities, whereas the separation of the phenol-water azeotropic mixture consumes a considerable amount of energy.
Evaluation of bio-asphalt binders modified with biochar: a pyrolysis by-product of Mesua ferrea seed cover waste
Published in Cogent Engineering, 2018
Abhinay Kumar, Rajan Choudhary, Rumi Narzari, Rupam Kataki, Sanjay K. Shukla
Lower RAI values indicate a low susceptibility towards aging and hence better aging resistance (Ali, Mashaan, & Karim, 2013; Ashish, Singh, & Bohm, 2017). RAI results shown in Figure 9 indicate that there is a marginal but consistent decrease in RAI values with subsequent increase in the biochar content for binders of both sources. It is observed that with comparatively higher RAI values, source-2 binders are more aging susceptible than source-1 binders. The results further indicate that addition of biochar slightly reduces the aging susceptibility of the binders as the RAI of biochar modified binders is lower than the control binders. Hence, an increase in biochar content lowers the changes in G*/sin δ caused due to aging, and thus helps improve the resistance of the binder towards aging. The results of FTIR analysis demonstrated the presence of phenolic group in pyrolytic carbon, and the presence of phenolic compounds is known to impart anti-oxidant properties to asphalt binders. The ability of phenolic structures to act as asphalt anti-oxidant has been reported previously (Pan, 2012; Williams & McCready, 2008). A phenolic structure consists of one or more hydroxyl groups attached to benzene ring. The structure has the ability to neutralise oxygen containing free radicals, i.e. ketones and sulfoxides generated during asphalt binder oxidation (Pan, 2012). This likely explains the decrease in RAI values with an increase in biochar percentage.
Enhancing electrochemical degradation of phenol at optimum pH condition with a Pt/Ti anode electrode
Published in Environmental Technology, 2020
Johanna Zambrano, Hyunwoong Park, Booki Min
Aqueous wastes containing phenol are common effluents from many industrial sectors, such as manufacturing of textile products, synthetic chemical plants, dyes, plastics, polymeric resin production, and petroleum refinery industry [1,2]. Phenol is one of the most toxic and persistent organic pollutants in wastewater. The EPA criteria to protect freshwater aquatic life mention that phenols should not exceed 3400 µg L−1 and to protect human health from phenol ingested through water and contaminated aquatic organisms the concentration in water should not exceed 3.4 mg L−1 [3]. Phenol effect on human and animals are salivation, fall in body temperature, sweat, loss of reflex activity and death due to respiratory failures [3–5].
Physicochemical characteristics of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) electrospun nanofibres for the adsorption of phenol
Published in Journal of Experimental Nanoscience, 2020
Ainil Hawa, Kumar Sudesh, Suresh Sagadevan, Abdul Mukheem, Nanthini Sridewi
The most studied pollutant compound for wastewater treatment is phenol and its derivatives because of its major presence in most processing and refining industries effluent. Phenolic compounds are found in crude petroleum and distillation of coal tar [1]. Phenol is toxic and persistent in the environment and is subjected to regulation in some countries as priority pollutants. For example, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified phenol as priority pollutant while WHO stipulated that only <2 µg/L concentration of phenol can be entered into water resources from conventional water treatment plant. Moreover, chlorophenols (2,4,6-trichlorophenol) in drinking water are required to be set at <0.1 µg/L in order for it to be classified as safe [2]. Physicochemical, biological treatment, advanced oxidation processes (AOP, e.g. photocatalyst, Fenton & cavitation), ion-exchanges, emulsion liquid membrane and activated carbon techniques are commonly used to treat consistent organic contaminants like phenols from wastewater. Other techniques such as chemical oxidation, photochemical, ultrasound waves, electrochemical and hybrids methods from many of these treatments also are done to degrade the phenols. Yet, the method for chemical wastewater treatment is often challenging and energy demanding. Furthermore, its sensitivity effects towards the environments must be analysed and there is a need to take into consideration in meeting local regulation standard. For example, water for domestic use according to the US EPA local regulation standard must only contain maximum of 0.3 mg/L of phenol and 2.6 mg/L for fisheries while Japan only permits 5 mg/L of phenol in wastewater effluent which is quite different from the US EPA [3].