Catalytic air oxidation of manganese in synthetic waters

An attempt was made to study the oxidation of manganese by air in synthetic waters. A series of batch experments were performed at differnet values of concentration, temperature and pH. Unoxidized manganese in the solution was determined by formaldoxime spectrometric method. Results of these studies indicated that the air oxidation of manganese soluble in water can be effectively performed in basic media and that oxidation yield increasedwith an increase in pH and concentration. The yield was very high in the presence of manganese dioxide, sepiolite or clinoptilolite in solution and, the oxidation was almost completed especially at high values of pH and concentration. The reaction was found to be first order with respect to Mn²⁺ with a very low activation energy. A yield of 62% was obtained for the air oxidation of wastewater taken from the treatment plant of Corum Municipality.