Enhancement of Ozone Mass Transfer by Stainless Steel Wire Mesh and Its Effect on Hydroxyl Radical Generation

In order to improve the mass transfer efficiency of ozone in water, stainless steel wire mesh (SSWM) corrugated structure was packed into a microbubble ozone reactor to enhance the mass transfer efficiency. The results showed that the SSWM/O3 system could effectively improve the mass transfer efficiency. When the concentration of ozone in the liquid phase reached a stable state, it was about 21 mg/L, which was about 14% higher than that of ozone alone; the apparent mass transfer coefficient (KLa) was 0.7255 min−1, which was about 51% higher than that by ozone alone systems. The hydroxyl radicals in the SSWM/O3 system were more generated than that of ozone alone. After 6 min of operation, the concentration of hydroxyl radicals increased by 60 µmol/L compared with that in ozone alone system. The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal efficiency of biologically treated leachate by SSWM/O3 system was about 10% higher than that of ozone alone system after 120 min of reaction. The effects of pressure, temperature, ozone inlet concentration, and flow rates on the ozone concentration in the liquid phase and the generation of hydroxyl radicals were also investigated. The results indicated that reactor pressure has little effect on ozone concentration in liquid phase, but increasing pressure helps to generate ·OH; ozone concentration and ·OH generation in liquid phase increase with the increase of inlet ozone concentration and flow rate; ozone concentration in the liquid phase decreases with the increase of temperature, but ·OH generation increases with the increase of temperature. Our results indicate that the system consisting of SSWM and microbubble column reactor is an efficient process for the intensification of ozone-based advanced oxidation processes.