Efficient degradation of Bisphenol A by dielectric barrier discharge non-thermal plasma: Performance, degradation pathways and mechanistic consideration

Volatile organic compounds degradation by nonthermal plasma: a review

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have posed a severe threat on both ecosystem and human health which thus have gained much attention in recent years. Nonthermal plasma (NTP) as an alternative to traditional methods has been employed to degrade VOC in the atmosphere and wastewater for its high removal efficiency (up to 100%), mild operating conditions, and environmental friendliness. This review outlined the principles of NTP production and the applications on VOC removal in different kinds of reactors, like single/double dielectric barrier discharge, surface discharge, and gliding arc discharge reactors. The combination of NTP with catalysts/oxidants was also applied for VOC degradation to further promote the energy efficiency. Further, detailed explanations were given of the effect of various important factors including input/reactor/external conditions on VOC degradation performance. The reactive species (e.g., high-energy electrons, HO·, O·, N₂⁺, Ar⁺, O₃, H₂O₂) generated in NTP discharge process have played crucial roles in decomposing VOC molecules; therefore, their variation under different parameter conditions along with the reaction mechanisms involved in these NTP technologies was emphatically explained. Finally, a conclusion of the NTP technologies was presented, and special attention was paid to future challenges for NTP technologies in VOC treatment to stimulate the advances in this topic.

Development of Bi2WO6 and Bi2O3 - ZnO heterostructure for enhanced photocatalytic mineralization of Bisphenol A

Present study proposed the synthesis of mixed p-type and n-type nanocomposite heterostructures by co-precipitation method. The as-synthesized heterostructures were characterized through different characterization techniques. The as-synthesized Bi₂WO₆ and Bi₂O₃-ZnO heterostructures were tested as photocatalysts during the photodegradation of Bisphenol A (BPA). The Bi₂O₃-ZnO heterostructure nanocomposite was found to be a more effective photocatalyst than Bi₂WO₆. The effect of operating parameters including catalytic dose (0.02-0.15 gL^-1), initial BPA concentration (5-20 mgL^-1), temperature change (5-20 °C) and solution pH changes (4, 5, 7, and 8) were evaluated with Bi₂O₃-ZnO under UV-light irradiation by selecting a 300 W Xe lamp. More than 90% BPA was degraded with 0.15 gL^-1 Bi₂O₃-ZnO, keeping 1.0 mM H₂O₂ concentration fixed in 250 mL of reaction suspension. The HPLC and GC-MS were used to detect the reaction intermediates and final products. A plausible degradation pathway was proposed on the basis of the identification of reaction intermediates. Repeatability test analysis confirmed that the as-synthesized catalyst showed superb catalytic performance on its removal trend. The kinetics of degradation of BPA were well fitted by the power laws model. With the order of reaction being 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.3 for different operating parameters, i.e., catalyst dose, initial pH, temperature, and initial BPA concentration.

Degradation of bisphenol A and S in wastewater during cold atmospheric pressure plasma treatment

Developing novel, fast and efficient ecologically benign processes for removing organic contaminants is important for the continued development of water treatment. For this reason, this study investigates the implementation of Cold Atmospheric pressure Plasma (CAP) generated in ambient air as an efficient tool for the removal of Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS)-known endocrine disrupting compounds in water and wastewater, by monitoring degradation kinetics and its transformation products. The highest removal efficiencies of BPA (>98%) and BPS (>70%) were obtained after 480 s of CAP exposure. A pseudo-first-order kinetic revealed that BPA (-k_t = 4.4 ̶ 9.0 ms^-1) degrades faster than BPS (-k_t = 0.4 ̶ 2.4 ms^-1) and that the degradation is also time- and CAP power-dependent, while the initial concentration or matrix type had a negligible effect. This study also tentatively identified three previously reported and one novel transformation product of BPA and four novel transformation products of BPS. Their postulated structures suggested similar breakdown mechanisms, i.e., hydroxylation followed by ring cleavage. The results demonstrate that CAP technology is an effective process for the degradation of both BPA and BPS without the need for additional chemicals, indicating that CAP is a promising technology for water and wastewater remediation worthy of further investigation and optimization.

Activation of persulfate by a water falling film DBD process for the enhancement of enrofloxacin degradation

A synergetic system of water falling film dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma and persulfate (PS) was established and applied to enhance the enrofloxacin (EFA) degradation in this study. The simultaneous existence of electrons, reactive species, heat and UV-visible light in the DBD plasma system were utilized together to activate the PS to form SO₄^-· and other reactive oxygen species (ROS), and then worked in synergy with the DBD plasma to oxidize the EFA. The obtained results verified that there was a significant increase in the degradation percentages of EFA (20 mg L^-1) in the DBD/PS system, and the trend was more obvious under the condition of larger discharge power input. When 0.8 mM PS was added into the DBD system with 0.8 kW discharge power, the degradation percentage of EFA could reach 99.35% after 60 min treatment, the corresponding synergetic factor (SF) was 7.94. Analysis of the O₃ and the H₂O₂ concentrations in the DBD plasma system before and after the PS addition explained the activation of the PS by the HO·. The quenching experiments on reactive species suggested that SO4^-·, HO·, and ¹O₂ were all important reactive species for EFA degradation. The intermediates formed by the EFA degradation were detected and the degradation pathways were speculated. Results of toxicity analysis illustrated that the toxicity of the initial EFA solution decreased after degradation in the synergetic system of DBD/PS.

Recent Advances of Emerging Organic Pollutants Degradation in Environment by Non-Thermal Plasma Technology: A Review

Emerging organic pollutants (EOPs), including endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), constitute a problem in the environmental field as they are difficult to completely degrade by conventional treatment methods. Non-thermal plasma technology is a novel advanced oxidation process, which combines the effects of free radical oxidation, ozone oxidation, ultraviolet radiation, shockwave, etc. This paper summarized and discussed the research progress of non-thermal plasma remediation of EOPs-contaminated water and soil. In addition, the reactive species in the process of non-thermal plasma degradation of EOPs were summarized, and the degradation pathways and degradation mechanisms of EOPs were evaluated of selected EOPs for different study cases. At the same time, the effect of non-thermal plasma in synergy with other techniques on the degradation of EOPs in the environment was evaluated. Finally, the bottleneck problems of non-thermal plasma technology are summarized, and some suggestions for the future development of non-thermal plasma technology in the environmental remediation were presented. This review contributes to our better understanding of non-thermal plasma technology for remediation of EOPs-contaminated water and soil, hoping to provide reference for relevant practitioners.

Methyl silicate promotes the oxidative degradation of bisphenol A by permanganate: Efficiency enhancement mechanism and solid-liquid separation characteristics

Permanganate (Mn (VII)) is an environmentally-friendly mild oxidant in the field of advanced oxidation treatment, however, manganese colloids are produced as byproducts, which is difficult to separate from water, resulting in secondary pollution. This study used potassium methyl silicates (PMS) as surface modifiers to improve the aggregation of colloidal particles by increasing the hydrophobicity of the colloidal surface, and then explored the oxidation of bisphenol A (BPA) by Mn (VII) under the influence of potassium methyl silicate and the solid-liquid separation performance of the reaction system. The results showed that PMS and sodium silicate (SS) substantially enhanced the degradation of BPA by Mn (VII), and the promotion effect of potassium methyl silicate was greater than that of sodium silicate. PMS provided not only enough adsorption sites for MnO₂ colloidal particles formed in the reaction process, but also reaction space for Mn (VII) to catalyze the oxidation of BPA. PMS combined with the hydroxyl group of MnO₂ through hydrogen bonds and forms hydrophobic PMS-MnO₂ complexes which accelerated sedimentation by polycondensation. The strong adsorption ability of in situ formed MnO₂ colloids also accelerated the deposition of PMS-MnO₂ complex. This study solved the low efficiency problem of Mn (VII) oxidation degradation of organic pollutants and difficult separation of manganese containing colloids and provided a new strategy for the efficient utilization of Mn (VII).