Removal of Phenolic Compounds from Water by Adsorption and Photocatalysis

Phenolic compounds are important industrial wastes, and are classified as hazardous substances contaminating groundwater resources. Therefore, the removal or diminish of these organics compounds in order to reach the permitted levels before discharging becomes a challenging. Several processes have been developed to remove phenolic compounds from waters, including electrochemical oxidation, redox reactions, membrane separation and photocatalytic degradation. Recently, tendency of phenolic compounds removal involves adsorption and photocatalytic process, using synthetic or natural particles, such as carbon materials and clays. Actually, materials in nanometric scale play an important role in the processes previously mention due to their unique chemical and physical properties. In this book chapter, the first part shows the chemical properties of phenolic compounds that play an important role in the removal process. In the second part, different materials in macro, micro and nanosize used as adsorbents or photocatalysts are reviewed. In addition, other removal processes of phenolic compounds as electrochemistry and redox reactions are included. The removal conditions in these process, such as pH, adsorbate and adsorbent concentration are analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, special emphasis is included in micro and nanocarbon materials, used as adsorbents or photocatalyst to remove phenol from water in recently researches