Intensification of cavitational activity in sonochemical reactors using different additives: Efficacy assessment using a model reaction

Sonochemical reactors offer excellent promise for the intensification of different chemical processing applications. The current work deals with intensification of cavitational activity using different additives with an objective of decreasing the processing cost as well as enhancing the applicability of sonochemical reactors for different applications. Potassium iodide oxidation has been used as a model reaction. Experiments have been carried out in a laboratory scale ultrasonic horn reactor. The effects of different additives such as air, solid particles (cupric oxide and titanium dioxide), salts (sodium chloride and sodium nitrite) and radical promoters (hydrogen peroxide, ferrous sulphate, iron metal, carbon tetrachloride and t-butanol) on the degradation of potassium iodide have been investigated. Combination of additives has also been investigated for examining the possible synergistic effects in comparison to the use of individual additions. It has been observed that based on the type of additive, optimum concentration needs to be selected and it may not be desirable always to use different additives in combination. It is desirable to select an additive which can give additional reaction mechanism in the system to aid the desired application under question.