Decolorization and degradation of reactive yellow HF aqueous solutions by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes

Impact of Active Chlorines and •OH Radicals on Degradation of Quinoline Using the Bipolar Electro-Fenton Process

Quinoline is a typical nitrogenous heterocyclic compound, which is carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic to organisms, and its wastewater is difficult to biodegrade directly. The bipolar electro-Fenton process was employed to treat quinoline solution. The process/reaction conditions were optimized through the single factor experiment. The degradation kinetics of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was analyzed. To get the degradation mechanism and pathways of quinoline, the intermediate products were identified by gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC–MS). By using sodium chloride as supporting electrolyte in the electro-Fenton reaction system with initial pH 3.0, conductivity 15,800 µs/cm, H2O2 concentration 71 mmol/L, current density 30.5 mA/cm2, and applied voltage 26.5 V, 75.56% of COD was decreased by indirect oxidation with electrogeneration of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and active chloric species in 20 min. The COD decrease of quinoline solution followed the first order reaction kinetic model. The main products of quinoline degradation were 2(1H)-quinolinone, 4-chloro-2(1H)-quinolinone, 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline, and 5,7-dichloro-8-hydroxyquinoline. Furthermore, two possible degradation pathways of quinoline were proposed, supported with Natural charge distribution on quinoline and intermediates calculated at the theoretical level of MN15L/6-311G(d).

Transformation of bisphenol A by electrochemical oxidation in the presence of nitrite and formation of nitrated aromatic by-products

In this contribution, the electrocatalytic abatement of bisphenol A (BPA) with boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode had been conducted in NaNO₂ electrolytes. Central composite design was used as statistical multivariate method to optimize the operating parameters adopted (applied current density, flow rate, concentration of NaNO₂ and initial pH). The results from response surface analysis indicated that pH was the most influential factor for TOC decay, and a maximum TOC decay of 63.7% was achieved under the optimized operating conditions (9.04 mA cm^-2 of applied current density, 400 mL min^-1 of flow rate, 10 mM of NaNO₂, 4.0 of initial pH and 60 min of electrolysis time). Besides, LC/MS technique was applied to identify the main reaction intermediates, and plenty of nitrated oligomers were detected at the end of the degradation. These by-products were generated via the coaction of coupling reaction of nitrated phenol and electrophilic substitution mediated by nitrogen dioxide radicals. Moreover, our results showed that the degree of nitration depended heavily on the employed initial nitrite concentration. This was one of the very few investigations dealing with nitrophenolic by-products in nitrite medium, and thus the findings exhibited important implications for electrochemical degradation of BPA and its related phenolic pollutants.

Comparative study for degradation of industrial dyes by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes with BDD anode in a laboratory stirred tank reactor

Comparative degradation of the industrial dyes Blue BR, Violet SBL and Brown MF 50 mg L^-1 has been studied by the electrochemical oxidation (EOx), electro-Fenton (EF), photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) process based on BDD electrode. Each dye was tested in 0.05 mM Na₂SO₄ with 0.5 mM Fe²⁺ at pH 3.0, and electrolyzed in a stirred tank reactor under galvanostatic conditions with 2.0, 5.0, 7.0, 11.0 and 18.0 mA cm^-2. Dyes were oxidized via hydroxyl radicals (OH) formed at the BDD anode from water oxidation coupled with Fenton's reaction cathodically produced hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Under Na₂SO₄ medium close to 100% the decolorization was achieved. Through the color abatement rate the dyes behavior was analyzed at the beginning of the oxidation process. Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) was tested to evaluate the degradation. From DOC removal, it was established an increasing relative oxidation power of the EOx < EF < PEF, according with their decolorization trend. This study highlights the potential of the electrochemical/BDD process for the degradation of industrial dyes found in wastewaters under appropriate experimental conditions.