The influence of ultrasound on the RuI3-catalyzed oxidation of phenol: Catalyst study and experimental design

Abstract The influence of ultrasound at 24 kHz on the heterogeneous aqueous oxidation of phenol over RuI3 with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was studied isothermally at 298 K. Effect of ultrasound irradiation on catalytic properties and performance of RuI3 has been studied in details by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), dispersion analyzer and a surface analyzer. Turn over frequency of the catalyst was also calculated. In this work, experimental design methodology was applied to optimize the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution, while minimizing an excessive consumption of chemical reagents. The independent variables considered were the catalyst lo…