Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, Vol.50, No.7, 791-797, 2020
A novel H2O2-persulfate hybrid system supported by electrochemically induced acidic and alkaline conditions for organic pollutant removal
Electro-Fenton (EF) and alkaline/persulfate systems are two important systems capable of producing (OH)-O-center dot and SO4-center dot for environmental remediation. However, the major drawbacks of these two processes are the necessity of operating in low pH (2.0-4.0) or high pH environments, where the acidification/alkalization steps and subsequent neutralization processes significantly increase the operation cost and limit their applicability. In this work, we propose a system that can simultaneously electrochemically develop acidic and alkaline environments in two divided compartments to solve this problem. pH values of 2.9-3.2 and 10.9-11.9 in two separated compartments were obtained, and the results show that the electrochemically developed acidic environment (pH of 3 and 4) enhances the EF process by facilitating H2O2 electrogeneration and Fe2+ regeneration. The alkaline environment (11 and 12) that was also developed electrochemically is effective for persulfate activation. Finally, the system was found to be effective for Rhodamine B removal using an acidic pH-enhanced EF process and an alkaline pH-supported persulfate process. Graphic abstract
Keywords:Advanced oxidation processes;Electro-fenton;Hydrogen peroxide;Sodium persulfate;Organic pollutants