Extraction and Determination of Active Quinone from Spent Alumina used in Hydrogen Peroxide Production

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide was one of the major bleaching chemicals produced in Awash MelkassaChemical Factory. The auto-oxidation anthraquinone process route utilizing the working solution as a working media used to produce hydrogen peroxide. However, continuous usage of working solution resulted in losing of active quinone and unable to produce the required products, due to adsorbed on the surface of deactivated Alumina with different types of byproducts during the regeneration of working solution. Thus, determine the amount of active quinone that contained on the surface of deactivated alumina by solvent extraction methodwas a subject of study. The organic on the surface of deactivated alumina washed by organic solvent. In Soxhlet solvent extraction, methanol, ethyl acetate and the mixture of methanol and ethyl acetate, acetonitrile and acetone were used to assess the removal of polar organic compounds contained in deactivated alumina. The highest organic removal efficiency was observed at 69.05% when mixture of methanol and ethyl acetate was used for extraction. The GC analysis also showed that the removal efficiency of organic compound (active quinone) contained in deactivated alumina by organic solvents from high to low was solvent mixture, methanol, Acetonitrile, Acetone, and Ethyl acetate respectively. Therefore, recovered activequinone could be used instead of fresh anthraquinonefor working solution make up and as a Carrier for production of hydrogen peroxide.