Investigation of Effective Parameters on Production of Oxalic Acid from Wastepaper by Nitric Acid Oxidation Using Nanoparticles of V2O5 in a Semi-industrial System

Oxalic acid, also known as ethanedioic acid, and its compounds have widespread industrial applications in several fields such as textiles, tanning, oil refining, catalysts, pharmaceuticals, dyes, explosives, straw bleaching, printing, marble polishing, and metal and cloth cleaning. These methods are classified in six groups, namely: 1) fusion of sawdust with caustic soda, 2) oxidation of olefines and glycols, 3) radiation processing of carbonate solutions and molasses, 4) fermentation of carbohydrates, 5) oxidation of carbohydrates by nitric acid, and 6) decomposition of formates. Among these methods, the last three have been considered to be the most important of all. Fermentations of carbohydrates to oxalic acid have been reported for Pseudomonas fluorescens [1]. Studies have long been carried out to vary the potential production of oxalic acid by the nitric acid oxidation of carbohydrates. Among the raw materials are sugar meet molasses [2] and beet slag [3]. In this study, the production of oxalic acid was realized from wastepaper with nitric acid and nitrogen oxides that produced from nitric acid in the process. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of parameters on the oxalic acid yield using nanoparticles of V2O5 in the designed semi-industrial plan, which is a novel method, so that oxalic acid production is economic and important from the environmental point of view