{"title":"Using flow-through reactor to enhance ferric ions electrochemical regeneration in electro-fenton for wastewater treatment","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.psep.2024.09.003","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Electrochemical regeneration of ferric ions catches more and more attention since it could decrease iron sludge to avoid the sludge problem while it could simultaneously obtain similar robust removal efficiency to refractory organic contaminants in wastewater treatment as the normal Fenton agent method. However, the electrochemical regeneration of ferric ions in aqueous solution was very slow. In this paper, the mass transfer limit of ferric ions in electro-Fenton reaction was evaluated. Koutecky-Levich equation reveals an extremely low diffusion coefficient (<em>D</em><sub>0</sub>) value of ferric ions since its complex coordination of [Fe(HO)<sub>x</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6-x</sub>]<sup>3-x</sup>. The <em>D</em><sub>0</sub> value was only 2.70 × 10<sup>−6</sup> cm<sup>2</sup>·s<sup>−1</sup>. Flow-through reactor was therefore introduced in which the ferric ions was designed to penetrate through the 73.1 μm porous holes in the graphite fiber electrode. The μm-scaled confinement of ferric ions diffusion inside the holes was proved to successfully enhance the reduction current of ferric ions by more than 200 % since the diffusion distance of the ferric ions was significantly decreased in the flow-through reactor. However, besides the benefit of the flow-through reactor, the ferric ions reduction electro-Fenton (FeRR electro-Fenton) in flow-through still faces both the pH limit and H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> decomposition problems. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) could also cause the decrease of pH which exceeded the optimal pH window for Fenton and therefore destroyed the electro-Fenton reaction consequently although the electrochemical reaction of FeRR was 770 mV prior to HER reaction. The regeneration of Fe (II) process simultaneous destruction of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> since H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> e-reduction was 120 mV prior to FeRR reaction, which resulted in only very low H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> concentration suitable for FeRR electro-Fenton. Even using stepwise addition of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> in electro-Fenton, the decomposition of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> still could not be avoided. Although the decomposition of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> quite limited the application of FeRR electro-Fenton in real application, FeRR electro-Fenton still supports the enhancement removal efficiency of the refractory organic contaminants under low organic contaminants application.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20743,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety and Environmental Protection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Process Safety and Environmental Protection","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957582024011169","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Electrochemical regeneration of ferric ions catches more and more attention since it could decrease iron sludge to avoid the sludge problem while it could simultaneously obtain similar robust removal efficiency to refractory organic contaminants in wastewater treatment as the normal Fenton agent method. However, the electrochemical regeneration of ferric ions in aqueous solution was very slow. In this paper, the mass transfer limit of ferric ions in electro-Fenton reaction was evaluated. Koutecky-Levich equation reveals an extremely low diffusion coefficient (D0) value of ferric ions since its complex coordination of [Fe(HO)x(H2O)6-x]3-x. The D0 value was only 2.70 × 10−6 cm2·s−1. Flow-through reactor was therefore introduced in which the ferric ions was designed to penetrate through the 73.1 μm porous holes in the graphite fiber electrode. The μm-scaled confinement of ferric ions diffusion inside the holes was proved to successfully enhance the reduction current of ferric ions by more than 200 % since the diffusion distance of the ferric ions was significantly decreased in the flow-through reactor. However, besides the benefit of the flow-through reactor, the ferric ions reduction electro-Fenton (FeRR electro-Fenton) in flow-through still faces both the pH limit and H2O2 decomposition problems. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) could also cause the decrease of pH which exceeded the optimal pH window for Fenton and therefore destroyed the electro-Fenton reaction consequently although the electrochemical reaction of FeRR was 770 mV prior to HER reaction. The regeneration of Fe (II) process simultaneous destruction of H2O2 since H2O2 e-reduction was 120 mV prior to FeRR reaction, which resulted in only very low H2O2 concentration suitable for FeRR electro-Fenton. Even using stepwise addition of H2O2 in electro-Fenton, the decomposition of H2O2 still could not be avoided. Although the decomposition of H2O2 quite limited the application of FeRR electro-Fenton in real application, FeRR electro-Fenton still supports the enhancement removal efficiency of the refractory organic contaminants under low organic contaminants application.
期刊介绍:
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