Complete degradation of high-loaded phenol using tungstate-based ionic liquids with long chain substituent at mild conditions

Phenol in waste water threatens human health and is difficultly to be decomposed by nature. Efficient degradation of high-loaded phenol in water under mild condition is still a great challenge. Herein, ionic liquids with tungstate anion were designed and prepared. It was found that dodecyltrimethylammonium tungstate could catalyzed degradation of phenol into gases and water thoroughly at 323 k in 8 h. Tungstate anion revealed good catalytic oxidative activity and long carbon chain group connecting with cation of ionic liquids enriched phenol around catalysts, which induced the complete degradation of phenol at mild conditions. Increasing the amounts of hydrogen peroxide benefited to the total degradation of phenol. In addition, the ionic liquid could be reused for its excellent thermal stability. Our work provided a different strategy to treat waste water containing phenol efficiently.