Aqueous Phase Ozonation of Salicylic Acid: Process Optimization and Kinetic Evaluation

In order to enhance the performance and feasibility of the large-scale process, the goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of important factors and optimize ozonation settings for the efficient degradation of salicylic acid, a challenging-to-remove industrial pollutant. The circulating solution was infused with ozone, which was created from pure oxygen in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor (DBD). The study examined the effects of oxygen flow rate (1 to 5 ), starting concentration (28 to 85 ), solution volume (3 to 10 L), and pH (1.5 to 13) on process efficiency. According to the results, 94% degradation is attained in 30 minutes at a maximum oxygen flow rate of 5 , but only 17% is attained at 1 . Efficiency stays close to 95% between 28 and 85 , and it only slightly declines as the initial concentration rises. Efficiency and volume are negatively correlated; for example, 3 L has a 99.5% elimination rate while 10 L has a 94% elimination rate. In contrast to an acid medium (pH 1.5), which yields a yield of 75.6%, an alkaline pH (pH 13) promotes optimal degradation (99.7%). Degradation is kinetically consistent with the pseudo-first-order model, with a rate constant k that depends linearly on the amount of salicylic acid and the rate of oxygen flow (k), ranging from 0.006 to 0.190 .