An innovative catalyst is reported for removing suspect carcinogen trichloroacetic acid (TCA) found in water after chlorination. SilverSil, a methyl-modified silica xerogel doped with Ag nanoparticles, shows remarkably high and stable activity as heterogeneous catalyst for the reductive dehalogenation of TCA with NaBH4 as reducing agent. Chloroacetic acid and acetic acid are the main products of the highly reproducible reductive dehalogenation. The low cost, high stability and ease of application of the SilverSil sol-gel catalyst to continuous processes open the route to the industrial uptake of SilverSil to free chlorinated waters from a probable human carcinogenic agent exerting significant genotoxic and cytotoxic effects.
Keywords: drinking water; environmental catalysis; halogenated by-products; trichloroacetic acid.