Insight into roles of carbon anodes for removal of refractory organic contaminants in electro-peroxone system: Mechanism, performance and stability

Zekun Dong; Jie Yao; Zhihui Hu; Jiao Yang; Yan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133957

Insight into roles of carbon anodes for removal of refractory organic contaminants in electro-peroxone system: Mechanism, performance and stability

J Hazard Mater. 2024 May 5:469:133957. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133957. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

Authors

Zekun Dong¹, Jie Yao², Zhihui Hu¹, Jiao Yang³, Yan Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Safety and Distribution Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² Power China Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou 310023, China.
³ College of Environmental and Resources Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁴ College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Safety and Distribution Technology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: zhangyan@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 38452678
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133957

Abstract

Electro-peroxone (EP) is a novel technique for the removal of refractory organic contaminants (ROCs), while the role of anode in this system is neglected. In this work, the EP system with graphite felt anode (EP-GF) and activated carbon fiber anode (EP-ACF) was developed to enhance ibuprofen (IBP) removal. The results showed that 91.2% and 98.6% of IBP was removed within 20 min in EP-GF and EP-ACF, respectively. Hydroxy radical (O⋅H) was identified as the dominant reactive species, contributing 80.9% and 54.0% of IBP removal in EP-ACF and EP-GF systems, respectively. The roles of adsorption in EP-ACF and direct electron transfer in EP-GF cannot be ignored. Due to the differences in mechanism, EP-GF and EP-ACF systems were suitable for the removal of O⋅H-resistant ROCs (e.g., oxalic acid and pyruvic acid) and non-O⋅H-resistant ROCs (e.g., IBP and nitrobenzene), respectively. Both systems had excellent stability relying on the introduction of oxygen functional groups on the anode, and their electrolysis energy consumption was significantly lower than that of EP-Pt system. The three degradation pathways of IBP were proposed, and the toxicity of intermediates were evaluated. In general, carbon anodes have a good application prospect in the removal of ROCs in EP systems.

Keywords: Carbon anode; DFT; Dynamics; Electro-peroxone; Refractory organic contaminants.