Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be considered as a major source of air pollution, and in many cases, legislation has already been introduced to reduce their emissions. O-xylene, one of VOCs, is widely used in industry as solvent and also the raw material of o-Phthalic anhydride (PA). The subjects of this research are divided into four parts, they are screening activity of catalysts, incineration efficiency with various operation parameters, physical properties of catalysts and kinetic model derivation. In screening activity of catalysts, Four kinds of metal ions (Cu, Mn, Zn, Fe; the molar ratio of metal/Fe is 1/2), three different temperature (70¢J, 80¢J, 90¢J) and pH (9, 10, 11) were the parameters of FP to manufactured 36 ferrospinel catalysts. Under the same reaction conditions (o-xylene conc.=1600 ppm, GHSV=71150 hr-1, O2=21%, temperature=298K~673K), it¡¦s found that the most efficient catalyst was Cu/Fe ferrospinel and its synthesis condition was pH at 9 and temperature at 90¢J. The operation parameters to determine incineration efficiency were temperature at 373K ~ 673K, inlet o-xylene concentration at 600 ~ 1600 ppm, GHSV at 47450 ~ 71150 hr-1, O2 concentration at 21 ~ 40%. The results showed that the conversion was proportional to the increase of inlet o-xylene concentration, temperature and inlet oxygen content and was inverse proportional to the increase of GHSV. To realize the physical properties of catalysts, XRD, SEM and EDS were applied. The results indicated that there was no physical difference between fresh and used catalysts. Besides, two kinetic models, Power rate law and Mars-Van Krevelen model were used to demonstrate the decomposition of o-xylene. It¡¦s discovered that Power rate law was more reasonable to illustrate the catalytic o-xylene oxidation. Further, the reaction rate was increased with the increase of inlet o-xylene and oxygen concentration and reaction temperature.

<p> The homogeneous partial oxidation of ortho-xylene vapour by air in a 316 s.s. flow reactor was studied in this work, which was conducted in connection with, and preceding an investigation of the kinetics of catalytic vapour-phase partial oxidation of a-xylene. The main purpose of the present work was to make an exploratory study of the contribution of the homogeneous reaction, if any, in as much as it would affect the catalytic oxidation to be studied on the same experimental set-up. This would permit the correction for the rate of homogeneous reaction during the catalytic reaction under a range of experimental conditions, or, reveal conditions under which the catalytic reaction could be conducted with minimum contribution by the homogeneous reaction. </p> <p> The three variables studied and the range of conditions for each are as follows : 1. Air: o-xylene molar ratio: ,124 to J78 2. Residence time: 0.443 sec. to 0.539 sec. 3. Temperature: 430° C to 490° c </p> <p>The reaction product stream was analyzed mainly by Gas Chromatography, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative analyses of liquid samples of the reactor condensate were also conducted using a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer, Mass Spectrometer, Infrared Spectrophotometer and also by conventional chemical techniques. </p> <p> Product analysis indicated a-xylene oxide as the reaction product at the lmv conversions studied. An empirical correlation obtained by statistical analysis of the experimental data, relating the conversions obtained and the variables studied, has been proposed to calculate the extent of the homogeneous reaction under the conditions of a catalytic reaction study. The results obtained in this work are consistent with the suggested kinetics and mechanism for this reaction. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

In industrial wastewater, there are usually many kinds of organics and heavy metals and can cause damage on human health and environment without well treatment. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) industrial wastewater is a typical example due to the complicated manufacture processes and the use of specific chemicals. In this study, the PCB industrial wastewater is collected and then treated by the combination of Fenton method and Ferrite Process (or called Fenton-Ferrite Process, FFP). Moreover, the recycling possibility of sludge generated from FFP is also studied. Through this study, the treatment procedure of wastewater containing organics heavy metals is established and the direction of sludge reuse is also provided. To realize the characteristic of PCB industrial wastewater, the wastewater from some PCB factory in southern Taiwan was firstly collected and analyzed to identify the pollution concentrations and then treated by FFP. The experimental results showed that the optimum parameters of Fenton method in FFP were pH = 2, [Fe2+]= 500 mg/L, [H2O2]= 3000 mg/L, reaction time= 60 min and batch dosing, and the residual COD and TOC were 84.9 mg/L and 58.3 mg/L under the COD regulation standard 120 mg/L. Meanwhile, the proper conditions of Ferrite Process in FFP were pH= 10, reaction temperature= 80¢J, reaction time= 40 min, aeration rate= 3 L/min/L wastewater, Fe/Cu molar ratio= 10 and three-stage reaction. Under that circumstance, the residual [Cu2+] in wastewater was 0.18 mg/L and the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test of sludge from FFP was 4.58 far below the effluent standard 3 mg/L and TCLP standard 15 mg/L. The properties of sludge were further investigated by X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID). The pattern of XRD indicated that the major structures were Fe3O4 and CuFe2O4; the figure of SEM showed that the surface of sludge was composed of many round particles and the distribution of particle size was from 50 nm-100 nm; the magnetic property analyzed by SQUID showed that the saturation moment was 62.85 emu/g. In the research of sludge applied in catalytic incineration, the o-xylene conversion was 97 % by sludge but only 31 % by quartz sand at 400 ¢J. Moreover, in the 72 hr-decay test of catalyst, the results clearly indicated that the performance did not obviously decline and there were no any byproducts but CO2. Therefore, the investigation revealed that the sludge had great potential in catalytic reaction. The catalytic performance of various ferrospinels generated from different manufactured conditions was also studied. Through the screening of catalysts, the order of various ferrospinels activity was Cu-ferrite > Mn-ferrite > ferrite ¡Ü Zn-ferrite and the most effective Cu-ferrite was manufactured at pH= 9 and T= 90 ¢J. After 72 hr test, the decay of catalyst was not also found. In the examination of Cu-ferrite physical property, the XRD pattern showed that the structure was CuFe2O4; the figure of SEM illustrated that there was no difference between the surface of fresh and used catalyst; the magnetic property measured by SQUID showed that the saturation moment was 30.89 emu/g.