Decomposition of Aqueous 2,2,3,3-Tetra-Fluoro-Propanol by $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ Process

2,2,3,3-Tetra-fluoro-propanol (TFP) has been extensively used in compact disk-recordable and digital versatile disk-recordable manufacture and a large amount of wastewater containing the chemical is being discharged. This investigation evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of the use of UV, ${\mathrm{O}}_3$ , and $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ to degrade aqueous TFP. TFP oxidation tests were performed with initial TFP concentrations of $772–887\mathrm{mg}∕\mathrm{L}$ with various solution pH values (acidic, alkaline, uncontrolled), solution temperatures (26, 37, 48, and $60°\mathrm{C}$ ), and UV wavelengths (254 and $185\mathrm{nm}$ ). Experimental results demonstrated that alkaline conditions favor the TFP degradation and increase the mass of TFP decomposition per unit mass of ozone consumption, in both ${\mathrm{UV}}_{254\mathrm{nm}}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{UV}}_{185\mathrm{nm}}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ processes. There was no significant difference in the rate of TFP degradation when using either ${\mathrm{UV}}_{254\mathrm{nm}}$ or ${\mathrm{UV}}_{185\mathrm{nm}}$ . TFP exhibited zero-order degradation kinetics when sufficient ozone was supplied. A higher oxidation temperature was found to be no help for the $\mathrm{UV}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ oxidation of TFP in the tested concentration and temperature ranges. The cost of the ${\mathrm{UV}}_{254\mathrm{nm}}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ or ${\mathrm{UV}}_{185\mathrm{nm}}∕{\mathrm{O}}_3$ per unit volume of wastewater with an initial TFP concentration of $\mathrm{3,387}\mathrm{mg}∕\mathrm{L}$ is comparable to that of the Fered–Fenton process as described in the literature.