Abstract: The content and components of phenols in refinery spent caustic waste were analyzed. The results indicated that refinery spent caustic waste contained phenols with different structures, the amount of phenol accounted for around 60%. The hydrogen peroxide oxidation of phenol indicated that the oxidation effect was poor and the removal of phenols was only 0.5%. With titanium silicalite molecular sieve as catalyst, the effect of oxidation was substantially improved and the removal of phenol reached 94.7% under the best condition. Titanium silicalite molecular sieve displays outstanding catalysis performance.

Key words: spent caustic, phenol, oxidation, catalysis