chemical industry sci

degradation products

fe ii

pms activation

oxidation processes

uv chlorine

peroxymonosulfate pms

fe vi

advanced oxidation

degradation efficiency

Chemical Engineering Journal

In this work, an efficient VUV/Fe/PMS process was developed to degrade pharmaceutical compounds in contaminated waters. The effect of addition of low Fe(II) and PMS amounts individually and simultaneously was scrutinized for treating metformin (MET) as a model contaminant. Co-addition of 0.05 mg/L Fe(II) and 20 mg/L PMS to the bench-scale VUV photoreactor emitting both UV254 and UV185 photons, respectively, produced both     H    O    ∙       and     S    O    4    •  -       which had a considerable synergistic effect (30%) for the degradation of MET. Furthermore, adding Fe(II) and PMS to the VUV photoreactor resulted to a decreased electrical energy consumption by 3.5 times. The optimum treatment pH was near neutral, while a high degree of MET oxidation was reached even in the presence of common water anions. The complete degradation and mineralization of 5 mg/L MET in tap water was achieved in a continuous-flow VUV/Fe(II)/PMS mode at a hydraulic retention time of 60 min. The findings suggest that the VUV/Fe(II)/PMS process could be an effective and efficient advanced process for oxidation of emerging water contaminants.

Shedding light on the catalytic synergies between Fe(II) and PMS in vacuum UV (VUV/Fe/PMS) photoreactors for accelerated elimination of pharmaceuticals: The case of metformin