Catalytic degradation of O-cresol using H₂O₂ onto Algerian Clay-Na

Clay material is used as a catalyst to degrade an organic pollutant. This study focused on the O-cresol oxidative degradation in aqueous solution by adding H₂O₂ and Mont-Na. The catalytic tests showed a high catalytic activity of Mont-Na, which made it possible to achieve more than 84.6% conversion after 90 min of reaction time at 55°C in 23.2 mM H₂O₂. The pH value was found to be negatively correlated with the degradation rate of O-cresol. UV–Vis spectrophotometry revealed that the increase of degradation rate at low pH is related to the formation of 2-methylbenzoquinone as intermediate product. In addition, the content of iron in Mont-Na decreased after the catalytic test, bringing further evidence about the O-cresol catalytic oxidation. The mineralization of O-cresol is also confirmed by the different methods of characterization of Mont-Na after the catalytic oxidation test. The effect of the O-cresol oxidation catalyzed by natural clay is significant.