Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 9 (2002) 123131 www.elsevier.

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Wastewater treatment: a novel energy ecient hydrodynamic cavitational technique

Manickam Sivakumar, Aniruddha B. Pandit
*
Chemical Engineering Section, University Department of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India Received 9 January 2001; received in revised form 10 September 2001; accepted 3 October 2001

Abstract A novel method of treating a dye solution has been studied by hydrodynamic cavitation using multiple hole orice plates. The present work deals with the eect of geometry of the multiple hole orice plates on the degradation of a cationic dye rhodamine B (rhB) solution. The eciency of this technique has been compared with the cavitation generated by ultrasound and it has been found that there is substantial enhancement in the extent of degradation of this dye solution using hydrodynamic cavitation. Large-scale operation coupled with better energy eciency makes this technique a viable alternative for conventional cavitational reactors. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Hydrodynamic cavitation; Rhodamine B; Wastewater treatment; Multiple hole orice plates; Acoustic cavitation

1. Introduction Treatment of industrial wastewaters, particularly textile wastewaters having used dye solution, has attracted many researchers in recent years. The problem of colour in textile wastewaters and the importance of research in this area have been well discussed by Neill et al. [1]. Generally, aerobic treatment provides eective colour removal, in some instances, in addition to reducing the sludge volume. In many cases, textile mills are being asked to treat on site, highly coloured wastewaters before discharging into municipal sewers or surface waters. Of the myriad chemical, physicochemical and biological treatment methods available for treating the textile wastewaters, biological methods generally provide the most cost-eective solution. Anaerobic reactors are particularly eective for decolourization of wastewaters containing azo dyes. However, the aromatic amine products are usually not degraded under anaerobic conditions. These circumstances lead to the need to develop some other alternative technology for the decolourization of wastewaters as each and every technique discussed above has its own disadvantages.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-22-4145616; fax: +91-224145614. E-mail address: abp@udct.ernet.in (A.B. Pandit).
*

Hydrodynamic cavitation occurs when a liquid undergoes a dynamic pressure reduction due to constriction devices like venturi, orice plates, etc., while operating under constant temperature. Phenomenon of the hydrodynamic cavitation results in the formation of cavities lled with a vapourgas mixture inside the liquid ow or at the boundary of the constriction devices due to a local pressure drop caused by the movement of the liquid. Mixing, emulsication, homogenization and dispersion are some of the commonly studied areas using this cavitation as well as acoustic cavitation. These eects are due to a substantial plurality of force eects acting on the treated mixture of components due to the collapse of the cavitation bubbles. The collapse of the cavitation bubbles near the boundary of liquidsolid particles phases results in the dispersion of these particles in the uid and in the formation of the suspension, while in the liquidliquid system, one uid is dispersed into the other uid and it results in the formation of the emulsion. In both cases, the boundary between the phases is destroyed or eroded and a dispersion of the phases is formed. The collapse of the cavitation bubbles also initiates physico-chemical eects, in addition to the above mechanical eects, resulting in the intensication of physical dispersion processes. Here, the physical eects include the production of shear forces and shock waves whereas

1350-4177/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 0 - 4 1 7 7 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 2 2 - 5

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Nomenclature Cv Cv0 dh fT H g l p1 p2
cavitation number modied cavitation number diameter of the hole opening, m turbulent pressure uctuating frequency, kHz pressure head of liquid, N/m2 acceleration due to gravity, m/s2 scale of turbulence, m inlet pressure, N/m2 fully recovered downstream pressure, N/m2

pv Qm t v0 Greek q a b0

vapour pressure, N/m2 mainline owrate, m3 /s time of operation, s uctuating component of mean velocity, m/s density of liquid, kg/m3 parameter characterising ow geometry, m1 parameter characterising ow geometry

the chemical eects result into the generation of radicals. But, the application of this hydrodynamic cavitation method for getting the desired chemical eects requires rigorous optimisation taking into consideration various internal and external parameters as they are interrelated. For example, increase in viscosity, decrease in surface tension and density of the uid, as well as an increase in the vapour content reduces the eciency of the cavitation eect. Application of ultrasound to wastewater treatment is not new to the researchers [28]. Violent collapse of the cavities in hydrodynamic cavitation systems results in the formation of reactive hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl radicals which recombine to form hydrogen peroxide as similar to acoustic cavitation. However there are not many reports indicating the applications of hydrodynamic cavitation reactors for wastewater treatment scheme. Kalumuck and Chahine [9] have studied destruction of p-nitrophenol in recirculating ow loops using a variety of cavitating jet congurations and operating conditions and shown that, indeed, hydrodynamic cavitation degraded p-nitrophenol. Submerged cavitating liquid jets were found to generate a two order of magnitude increase in energy eciency compared to the ultrasonic means. Jyoti and Pandit [10] have studied disinfection of water using dierent techniques and reported that hydrodynamic cavitation is an economically attractive alternative compared to techniques such as ozonation and heat sterilisation for reducing bacterial counts. Botha [11] and Botha and Buckley [12] studied combination of hydrodynamic cavitation and UV irradiation and reported higher cavitational yields. It has been found that such a combination increases the destructive eciency while maintaining the cost eectiveness. Also, there exists a commercial process, known as CAV-OX process, developed by Magnum Water Technology Inc., California. This is a hybrid system involving hydrodynamic cavitation, UV irradiation and oxidation with hydrogen peroxide. Several contaminants of concern such as pentachlorophenol (PCP), benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes, cyanide, phenol, atrazine have

been successfully degraded to a signicant extent. Case studies at pilot plant scale showed that the process is eective for a wide variety of euents obtained from various chemical industries. In addition to the above, few other papers have also discussed the application of this method [1325]. The present work shows an attempt in utilising this technique using multiple hole orice plates for waste water treatment as used by Vichare et al. [23] for the KI decomposition studies. They have used KI decomposition as a model reaction and conrmed the occurrence as well as the intensity and thereby the eciency of the multiple hole orice plates in generating the cavitation. But, KI decomposition studies have no industrial relevance. Thus, in terms of making this technique practically applicable the present work concentrates on applying cavitation using the same constriction device, multiple hole orice plates, to an industrially relevant reaction. For this purpose we have selected the degradation of rhodamine B, a textile dye euent. This is due to the fact that similar rhodamine B studies have already been carried out for optimising cavitation energy but using sonochemical equipments. Also, the importance of the treatment of this dye has already been mentioned [26]. Thus, it becomes more appropriate in doing the same reaction by hydrodynamic cavitation in order to have a comparison among various cavitating equipments (acoustic and hydrodynamic). Also, the present study aims to check whether the trends observed with the model reaction of KI are valid for other industrial reactions. The eect of the cavitating device geometry for a dierent reaction also needs conrmation. With this objective in mind, the experiments have been carried out with rhodamine B degradation.

2. Experimental 2.1. Materials Rhodamine B (tetraethylrhodamine) was a laboratory reagent grade product and was used without further

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purication. In order to simulate the conditions of this dye solution from industry, tap water was used to dissolve and to get the required strength of rhodamine B solution (typically 56 lg/ml of 50 l solution).

All the experiments were carried out within the temperature range of 3540 C. Degradation of the dye was followed by checking its absorbance value at 553 nm using UVVIS spectrophotometer (Chemito, India). 2.2. Hydrodynamic cavitation reactor The conguration of the pilot-scale experimental setup is shown in the Fig. 1. It is a closed loop system designed to draw the dye solution from a holding tank of 50 l volume, then taking it into the cavitation zone and then discharging the treated solution again back to the tank. The other major components of the system include a centrifugal pump (2900 rpm, 5.5 kW, Calama Industries Ltd, Noida, India), control valves (V1, V2, V3), anges to accommodate the orice plate, mainline and a bypass line. The discharge from the pump branches into two lines; mainline and bypass line. The mainline consists of a ange which houses the orice plate and a hard glass tube is next to the ange for visual observation of the movement of the uid. The bypass line is provided to control the liquid ow through the mainline. Both the mainline and the bypass line terminate well inside the tank, below the liquid level in order to avoid any induction of air into the system. Control valves (V1, V2, V3) are provided at appropriate places to control the ow rate through the mainline. The inside diameter of delivery line of centrifugal pump is

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of hydrodynamic cavitation reactor set-up.

38 mm. Also, the tank is provided with a cooling jacket and with this the temperature of the medium was maintained within the temperature range of 3540 C. Experimentation includes the recirculation of rhodamine B dye solution through a ow channel internally accommodating a multiple hole orice plate. In the present study, six orice plates (with dierent diameter and number of holes) have been considered. All the plates are made up of stainless steel (SS316). The diameter of each plate is 40 mm. The detailed information of the plates is given in Table 1 and the arrangement of holes on the plate is shown in Fig. 2. Incorporation of dierent multiple hole orice plates results in dierent intensities of cavitation and hence in dierent magnitude of pressures generated due to the collapse of cavities. The magnitude of collapse pressure depends on the percentage ow area oered and also the perimeter of the holes present on the orice plates. The type of constrictions used in the present cavitation set-up are dierent from the conventional devices (single orice, venturi valve, etc) since they have been designed specically to control the intensity of cavitation as observed in the modelling studies [27,28]. During the experimentation, valves V1 and V2 were always kept fully open, while valve V3 was then partially throttled to keep the discharge pressure to a xed value

Table 1 Flow geometry of the orice plates Plate number 1 2 3 4 5 6 Number of holes 33 8 8 20 33 16 Diameter of each hole (dh ) mm 1 2 5 3 2 3 Flow area (mm2 ) 25.92 25.1 157.1 141 103.67 113 a (mm1 ) 4 2 0.8 1.33 2 1.33 b0 0.023 0.022 0.139 0.124 0.091 0.1 Total perimeter of holes (mm) 103.67 50.27 125.67 188.5 207.35 150.8

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M. Sivakumar, A.B. Pandit / Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 9 (2002) 123131 Table 2 Flow characteristics of orice plates for an inlet pressure of 30 psig Plate number 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mainline ow rate (l/s) 0.6626 0.8114 3.475 2.6085 1.6893 1.6894 Orice velocity V0 (m/s) 25.56 32.33 22.12 18.50 16.30 14.95 Cavitation number Cv 0.2923 0.2759 0.3911 0.5591 0.7203 0.8562

Fig. 2. Arrangement of holes on the orice plates.

of 30 psig. Samples were collected after 10, 20, 30, 40, 45 50, 55 and 60 min of operation at the same operating inlet pressure of 30 psig and the collected samples were analysed at the wavelength of 553 nm for the concentration of rhodamine B. From the measured absorbance, the rhodamine B concentration was determined using a pre-calibrated chart. Similar procedure was repeated for all the plates at the same pump discharge pressure (30 psig). The characteristic absorption of rhodamine B continuously decreased with time for all the plates. Also, it has been observed that there were no new absorption peaks during the analysis. This clearly conrms that there is complete destruction of rhodamine B i.e., cleavage of the chromophore, rather than its discoloration or bleaching, as deethylation results in blue shift of the absorption bands. This is very similar to the results observed by Watanabe et al. [29] who have carried out photodegradation of rhodamine B and Sivakumar and Pandit [26] who have studied the degradation of the same molecule by ultrasonic equipments.

velocity at the orice which can be estimated from the knowledge of ow rate through the mainline and size and ow area of the orice opening. Table 2 gives the values of the cavitation number calculated for each plate along with the mainline ow rates and the orice velocity. The detailed eect of cavitation number on the extent of degradation has been described later. 3.2. Eect of geometry of orice plates on rhodamine B degradation Fig. 3 shows the extent of rhodamine B degradation at a xed inlet pressure (30 psig) with time of operation for all the six plates. The extent of degradation has been found to be dierent for dierent plates, which can be attributed to the dierent combination of holes in terms of the number and the diameter of the hole on the respective plates. To quantify the eects of geometry, a parameter a, characteristic of the orice plate and which takes into account the increase in the area of the shear layer has been dened as the ratio of total perimeter of holes to the total area of the opening, a Total perimeter of the holes n 2pdh =2 2 Total area of opening n pdh =2 4 dh 2

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Hydraulic characteristics In the earlier work [23], the hydraulic characteristics of the orice plates have been discussed in detail. The characteristics have been found to be much similar to that of a conventional centrifugal pump. Cavitation number has been dened to characterise the hydrodynamic as well as the cavitating conditions existing downstream of the orice as follows: Cv p2 pv 1=2qv2 0 1

where dh is the diameter of the hole opening and n is the number of holes. The value of a utilised in the present study ranges between a minimum of 0.8 mm1 for plate 3 to a max-

where, p2 is the fully recovered downstream pressure, pv is the vapour pressure of the liquid and v0 is the liquid

Fig. 3. First order degradation of rhodamine B.

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Fig. 4. Eect of a on the rst order rate constant of rhodamine B degradation.

Fig. 5. Eect of b0 on the rst order rate constant of rhodamine B degradation.

imum of 4 mm1 for plate 1. It has been observed that the extent of rhodamine B degradation increases with an increase in the value of a (Fig. 4). To give a quantitative idea, the rate constant for plate 1 has been found to be 5:33 105 /s as against 2:67 105 /s for plate 3 (there is almost 100% increase in the rate constant). Vichare et al. [23] have shown that for the same increase in the value of a, the rates for iodine liberation increases by about 200%. Though the trend of increase in the rates observed is same for the two cases (iodine liberation and rhodamine B destruction), there is an order of magnitude dierence between these two cases. This can be explained on the basis of the cavity collapse pressures required for the desired chemical transformation or destruction. It should be noted that the cavitation intensity or the magnitude of collapse pressure required for the degradation of rhodamine B is much higher as compared to that required for the KI decomposition. If the plates having the same ow areas (plates 1 and 2, plates 3 and 4, plates 5 and 6) are compared, then rhodamine B degradation for a plate having a larger value of a (i.e. smaller dh ) is more. Also, for the plates having the same value of a (plates 2 and 5, plates 4 and 6), the extent of rhodamine B degradation is higher with a plate having a higher number of holes i.e. larger total perimeter of holes. The expected enhancement for plate 5, due to the increased total perimeter has not been observed. The possible reason for this is due to the higher (almost 4 times) ow area for plate 5, which reduces the orice velocity, increasing the cavitation number, which in turn reduces the cavitational activity per hole. Gogate and Pandit [28] have also shown that the cavity collapse pressure reduces with an increase in the free area for ow. Thus the eect of a and total perimeter as explained above will only be valid for a constant ow area. Vichare et al. [23] have obtained similar trends due to the variation in geometric factor a for the reaction of decomposition of KI, whereas Senthilkumar and Pandit [27] have obtained similar trend though qualitative in nature on the basis of rigorous

theoretical modelling of bubble dynamics. Thus, if a certain ow area is to be arranged on an orice plate, large number of holes but with smaller diameter is preferred. Another parameter, b0 which can be dened as the ratio of total ow area or area of holes to the crosssectional area of the pipe. The range of b0 for the present study is 0.0220.139 (Table 1). The eect of area factor b0 on the rate constant for the degradation of rhodamine B has been depicted in Fig. 5. It can be seen from this gure that the extent of degradation or the rate constant increases with a decrease in the value of b0 (with the exception of plate 4 and 2). The combined eect of a and total perimeter again comes into picture for such as observation as discussed above. This can be also explained on the basis of results obtained in the earlier work using bubble dynamics studies [28]. It is known that the magnitude of collapse pressure increases with a decrease in the ow area oered for the liquid medium and the cavitational yield is proportional to the magnitude of collapse pressure generated. Vichare et al. [23] have also obtained similar results for the KI decomposition reaction. For the plates having almost similar ow area (same value of b0 ), there is not much dierence in the permanent pressure drop as entire head of liquid is lost on passage through the orice plate. This results in similar levels of power dissipation into the liquid for the plates having same value of b0 (plates 1 and 2, plates 3 and 4, plates 5 and 6). For this case, the scale of turbulence, which is dened as, 1 0:08dh dp =2, increases with an increase in the hole size [28]. The frequency of turbulence (fT ) is higher for the plate having a smaller hole size as it varies inversely with the latter (fT v0 =l). Thus, if two plates having the same value of b0 are compared, then, rhodamine B degradation with the plates having a smaller hole size (high turbulence frequency and cavitation intensity) is more (Fig. 5, plates 1 and 2). Hence, cavitational yield can be improved by using the plate which provides maximum turbulence or turbulence intensity and larger shear layer area. This

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result is consistent with the prediction of the model proposed by Moholkar and Pandit [30] accounting for the eect of the turbulence on cavity collapse pressure. Vichare et al. [23] have also obtained similar results experimentally with the decomposition of KI. It can also be seen from the Fig. 5 that for the same value of area factor b0 , the extent of increase in the rates of degradation for plates 1 and 2 combination is larger as compared to plates 3 and 4 combination and lowest for the plates 5 and 6 pair. This can be attributed to the percentage increase in the perimeter of holes on the orice plate, which is about 100% increase for plates 1 and 2 combination as against 50% increase for plates 3 and 4 combination and 38% increase for plates 5 and 6 pair. It has already been discussed that the extent of degradation increases with an increase in the perimeter of holes resulting in an increased occupied area of shear layer, which then leads into larger number of cavities experiencing increased turbulence. 3.3. Eect of cavitation number (Cv ) The eect of cavitation number on the extent of degradation of rhodamine B has been depicted in Fig. 6. It can be concluded at a rst glance that at lower values of cavitation number, the extent of degradation is higher with some exceptions. The exceptions observed with plates 2 and 3 (lower degradation rates) can be explained on the basis of dierence in the perimeter and ow area of these orice plates as discussed earlier. Thus it can be said that as the experiments have been done for dierent plates, the eect of cavitation number cannot be separated from the eect of a and b0 factors. At lower values of Cv , the orice velocities existing in the reactor will be higher and hence the number of liquid recirculation passes through the cavitation zone for the same time of operation will be higher as given by following denition,

Fig. 7. Eect of number of passes on the degradation of rhodamine B.

Number of passes of liquid Flow rate through the main line Total volume of the rhodamine B solution in the holding tank Time of operation

3 Due to higher number of passes through the orice set-up or giving sucient residence time within the cavitation zone, the liquid experiences cavitating conditions more number of times resulting into higher degradation rates. This has also been depicted clearly in Fig. 7. There is almost a linear increase in the percentage degradation with the number of passes for all the plates though the slope of the curve is dierent for dierent plates (slope for plate 1 0:3732 (% degradation/pass) whereas slope for plate 3 0:0372). Quantitatively, it can be predicted that for the same number of passes plate 1 will give 10 times higher degradation as compared with plate 3. This can again be attributed to the dierence in the geometries of plates. 3.4. Eect of modied cavitation number (Cv0 ) The eect of ow geometry on cavitation was further examined by considering a new parameter, dened as the modied cavitation number, Cv0 and is expressed as follows: Cv0 Cv Total perimeter of the holes=perimeter of the pipe 4 Fig. 8 shows the eect of modied cavitation number on the rst order rate constant of rhodamine B degradation. This gure indicates that there is higher rhodamine B degradation for plate 1 due to higher turbulence (lower cavitation number) and decrease in rhodamine B degradation with an increase Cv0 due to decrease in total perimeter of the holes with the exception of plate 3. The exception of plate 3 may be attributed to very high free area for ow (157.1 mm2 ) and also

Fig. 6. Eect of cavitation number on the rst order rate constant of rhodamine B degradation.

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Fig. 8. Eect of modied cavitation number on the rst order rate constant of rhodamine B degradation per pass for dierent plates. Fig. 9. Variation of cavitational yield with ow parameter b0 for different plates.

highest diameter of the holes (5 mm), which reduces the number of cavitation events (due to lower number of holes). For plate 1, orice velocity of liquid (v0 ) is very high which results into low value of Cv0 and the frequency of turbulence (fT ) is high. Also, as this plate provides more area of shear layer, better cavitational eects can be obtained which increases the rhodamine B degradation. If the plates having almost the same ow area (plates 1 and 2, plates 3 and 4, plates 5 and 6) are compared, then total perimeter of holes is always high for the plates having more number of holes though the size of the hole is small. Thus for the same ow area, rhodamine B degradation can be increased by decreasing Cv0 or increasing the total hole perimeter i.e. arranging more number of hole openings of small size on the plate. Analysis using modied cavitation number has been carried out to stress the importance of optimised arrangement of holes on the orice plates. 3.5. Cavitational yield Cavitational yield is dened as the ratio of the observed cavitational eect to the energy supplied to the system. Cavitational eect can be measured in terms of rhodamine B degradation in the present study. Thus, cavitational yield for the present case is expressed as, Cavitational yield gm=J Amount of rhodamine B degraded H qgQm t 5

which enhances the cavitational eect and increases cavitational yield. Also as discussed earlier for the same ow area, a decrease in the hole size increases the number of holes and hence the total perimeter, increasing the probability of cavity experiencing shear layer surrounding the issuing liquid jet resulting into more violent collapse. 3.6. Comparison of cavitating devices in terms of cavitational yield In the earlier work [26], the rhodamine B degradation was studied with the various ultrasonic cavitating equipments viz., ultrasonic horn, ultrasonic bath and dual frequency acoustic batch reactor (25 and 40 kHz). The dierence in these equipments is in terms of the following parameters: (a) scale of operation and geometry, (b) operating frequency and (c) energy intensity (W/m2 ). The eect of each of these parameters has been discussed in details in the earlier work [26]. The cavitational yield of ultrasonic equipments was calculated based on the degradation of rhodamine B to the energy input into the experimental solution. This energy input has been calculated based on calorimetry for all the equipments and the details of the study have already been explained [26]. From the degradation study using various ultrasonic equipments, it has been found that the ultrasonic bath gave the maximum cavitational yield with the scale of operation of 750 ml volume among the devices used. Fig. 10 depicts a comparison of all the cavitating equipments (ultrasonic and hydrodynamic orice plates) used for the degradation of rhodamine B, on the basis of total energy dissipation. It can be clearly seen from the gure that the cavitational yield for the hydrodynamic orice plates (plates 1 and 2) is higher as compared to any of the ultrasonic equipments and the plate 1 is the best among the various geometries considered in the present work. It can be seen that plate 1 results in a cavitational yield, which is two times higher as compared

where, H is pressure head of the owing liquid, Qm is mainline owrate and t is the time of operation. The cavitational yield for the six plates is shown in the Fig. 9 for 60 min of operation as a function of b0 . Cavitational yield for plate 1 is almost two times more than that for plate 3. Vichare et al. [23] have also reported a 10 times increase in the cavitational yield for the decomposition of KI for plate 1 as compared to plate 3. Decrease in hole size, decreases the scale of turbulence (l) and increases the turbulent pressure uctuation frequency (fT ) resulting into collapse of the cavities being more violent

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Fig. 10. Variation of cavitational yield for dierent cavitational equipments.

to an ultrasonic bath (750 ml), which is the best among the various ultrasonic equipments considered in the earlier work [26]. The results obtained are quite similar to those obtained by previous authors who have shown that hydrodynamic cavitation equipments were more energy ecient as compared to the sonochemical reactors for dierent applications [15,16,21,22,25].

4. Conclusions Present work is a signicant contribution to the area of application of the wastewater treatment scheme as there are only very few reports where hydrodynamic cavitation has been used for the degradation of complex chemical moieties. In hydrodynamic cavitation, altering the ow geometry and hence the turbulent pressure uctuation frequency (fT ) could enhance the cavitational yield. Optimum frequency of turbulence can be achieved by manipulating the ow conditions and geometry of the cavitation device. It has been observed that for the plates having the same ow area, it is advisable to use a plate with a smaller hole size opening, thereby increasing the number of holes in order to achieve a larger area of the shear layer. Because, for smaller hole sizes, the value of fT increases, leading to a more ecient collapse. On the contrary, for larger hole sizes the frequency of turbulence (fT ) is likely to be much lower than the natural oscillation frequency of the generated cavity, resulting in a lower collapse intensity. Also, if there is a choice on the magnitude of the ow area, lower percentage areas

should be chosen, as with a decrease in ow area, the intensity of cavitation increases. The present study also gives an indication that considering only one parameter in the design of multiple hole orice plates would not result in the possible explanation of all cavitational conditions for the desired eects. This is due to that all these parameters are not independent. Thus, in the design of such multiple hole orice plates all these parameters should be considered. Also, to check the eciency of this technique, the results obtained were compared with the cavitation generated by ultrasound. It was observed that there is a substantial enhancement in the extent of degradation of this dye using hydrodynamic cavitation for the same level of energy dissipation. Thus, the present set-up of hydrodynamic cavitation using multiple hole orice plates has been found to give cavitational yields, which are two times higher than the best acoustic cavitation device, tested earlier [24]. Moreover, the capacity of the reactor in the present case (50 l) is also 66 times higher as compared to the largest ultrasonic equipment tested. In case of hydrodynamic cavitation, the eciency of the pump is also likely to increase with an increase in the scale of the operation, which promises an eective scaleup of the reactor with the same or even better cavitational yields for a larger scale. Although, a treatment time of 1 h seems to be too large for this 50 l scale, present study has been carried out without adding any external chemical agents. By adding various oxidising agents like hydrogen peroxide or sodium hypochlorite, it would be possible to enhance the degradation rates. In addition to this, the present

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reactor system could be coupled with ultrasonic systems or UV systems to enhance the eciency. Thus, with an optimisation, it would be possible to treat larger amount of waste in shorter time. Also, the type of geometry used in the present study is not necessarily the nal most optimised conguration. It only points out the orice parameters aecting the rates and generally provides guidelines for its design in terms of hole diameter, number of holes and percentage free area. Thus, the present work clearly highlights the use of multiple hole orice plates in hydrodynamic cavitation set-up as a viable alternative to the conventional sonochemical reactors both in terms of the capacity as well as the energy eciency for the destruction of complex organic pollutants. Work is presently underway to explore the set-up for many other chemical reactions as also for wastewater treatment.

Acknowledgements Authors would like to acknowledge the funding of the Indo-French Center for Promotion of Advanced Research (Centre Franco-Indien Pour La Promotion de La Recherche Avancee), New Delhi, India for the collaborative research work.

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