Chromia Modified Sol-gel Titania as Catalysts for Wet Peroxide Oxidation of Phenol

Wet peroxide oxidation of phenol was carried out over chromia modified sol-gel titania. An added advantage of this method is the removal of phenol from waste water effluents. The influence of solvent, reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst amount and the molar ratio of phenol to hydrogen peroxide were investigated intensively. An initial induction period is noticed in all the cases. A thorough study on the reaction variables suggests free radical mechanism of the reaction. Physico-chemical characterizations of the prepared systems were done using powder XRD, EDX, BET surface area-pore volume measurements and TG-DTG analysis.