Oxidation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by ozone in the presence of sand

A series of soil slurry experiments was performed to investigate the characteristics of PAHs removal by ozone in various conditions. Gaseous ozone was bottled into the aqueous phase in the presence of soil contaminated by PAHs. The effects of soil media, OH radical scavengers, ozone dosage, and humic acid were examined at the given experimental conditions. There exists a substantial difference in the removal of PAH according to the types of soil media tested. Baked sand showed the highest removal efficiency compared to the others. The descending order of removal rate was: BS>S>GB. This is considered to be due to the OH radical effect produced by catalytic reactions of ozone with the reactive site on the and. This is qualitatively proved by the experiment of scavenging OH radicals using tert-butanol. The comparison of half-lives of ozone in sand and glass bead columns further supports this hypothesis. It was found that about 22% of enhancement of phenanthrene destruction was accomplished by OH radicals produced by the catalytic ozone decomposition. The rate of ozone consumption for the phenanthrene oxidation was obtained as 1.88 mg/mgO₃/min.