Overlooked impacts of natural organic matter conversion in a Fe(II)-induced peroxymonosulfate activation system for river water remediation

Lan Liang; Guanyi Chen; Jianhui Zhao; Penghui Shao; Ning Li; Mengting He; Qinglong Fu; Beibei Yan; Li-An Hou

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162217

Overlooked impacts of natural organic matter conversion in a Fe(II)-induced peroxymonosulfate activation system for river water remediation

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 10:872:162217. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162217. Epub 2023 Feb 13.

Authors

Lan Liang¹, Guanyi Chen², Jianhui Zhao³, Penghui Shao⁴, Ning Li⁵, Mengting He¹, Qinglong Fu⁶, Beibei Yan¹, Li-An Hou⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering/Tianjin Key Lab of Biomass/Wastes Utilization, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering/Tianjin Key Lab of Biomass/Wastes Utilization, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China; School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China.
³ School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Jiangxi Province for Persistent Pollutants Control and Resources Recycle, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, China.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering/Tianjin Key Lab of Biomass/Wastes Utilization, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China. Electronic address: liningec@tju.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Environment, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.
⁷ School of Environmental Science and Engineering/Tianjin Key Lab of Biomass/Wastes Utilization, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China; High Tech Inst Beijing, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: houla@cae.cn.

PMID: 36791865
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162217

Abstract

The peroxymonosulfate (PMS) process may be hindered severely due to natural organic matter (NOM) conversion in the treatment of emerging pollutants from river water, becoming a critical engineering and technical issue. In this study, a Fe(II)-induced river water (RW)/PMS catalytic system was constructed for investigating molecular transformation of NOM and related influence mechanism to sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS) analysis indicated that NOM molecules containing no more than one heteroatom in river may be attacked by hydroxyl radicals (OH) and then polymerized, converting into molecules with two or three heteroatoms during PMS oxidation. Based on the correlation analysis, CHONP-NOM, CHOSP-NOM and CHONSP-NOM showed a significant inhibition against SMX degradation, while CHONS-NOM exhibited a moderate inhibitory effect. Besides, more condensed aromatic structures, carbohydrates and tannins were generated via reactive species (OH and sulfate radicals (SO₄^-)) oxidation, radical addition and polymerization reactions. Notably, condensed aromatic structures, carbohydrates and tannins presented weak, modest and strong inhibition to SMX degradation, respectively. Based on the current results, the inhibition of target pollutants degradation would be mitigated via regulation of NOM molecules in a Fe(II)-induced PMS activation system, providing valuable information to reduce NOM impact. In addition, this study paves the way to achieve efficient removal of emerging pollutants from river water.

Keywords: FTICR-MS; Inhibition; Natural organic matter; Peroxymonosulfate; River water.