Setup and Energetic Considerations for Three Advanced Oxidation Reactors Treating Organic Compounds

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are gaining attention in sewage treatment as a further cleaning step for the elimination of persistent organic substances. Three designed laboratory‐scale AOP reactors are presented and their energetic consumption when treating indigo carmine as a test organic compound is assessed. A photolytic (UV/H2O2) and a photo‐Fenton reactor with one ultraviolet and three fluorescent lamps, respectively, and an electrolytic system consisting of a boron‐doped diamond electrode were built. When considering total energy consumption, substantial differences arose due to the stirring devices. Three advanced oxidation reactors, i.e., UV/H2O2, photo‐Fenton reaction, and conductive diamond electrolysis, were built for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants and tested for their capacity to discolor indigo carmine. An energetic analysis on total energy consumption and effective electrical consumption after subtraction of non‐process‐related costs is performed.