Efficacy of a Bioelectrochemical System Advanced Oxidation Process (BES-AOP) In-situ Persulfate Activator System Under Applied Potentials to Treat Multipollutants from Industrial Effluents in Fed-Batch Mode

Efficient and environmentally friendly persulfate (PS)-based treatments have received increasing attention as an alternative to wastewater treatment. The PS activation to generate radical species typically requires external energy input or toxic metal catalysts at higher treatment costs or the addition of potential new contaminants. In this study, PS was activated through a microbial process to evaluate the effect of input of persulfate, varied applied potential and fed-batch mode on treating industrial effluent. This study integrates a sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB)-bioelectrochemical system (BES) with PS oxidation to enhance system efficacy. The total organic carbon (TOC) reduction peaked at 84.22% at 300 mV, which was enhanced by 30–43% through sulfate radical-based oxidation with complete discoloration of effluent. Removing nitrogenous components beyond 2nd cycle linearly enhanced from 31.90% to 44.86% in Control to BES-450 mV. Applied potential significantly reduced heavy metals ions, however, synergisms of PS and applied potential significantly dropped Cu removal. An antagonistic effect on alkaline earth metals at Stages I and II was observed from 150 to 450 mV. This system improves treatment efficiency and reduces operational costs, offering a new approach to a sustainable mature technology to treat recalcitrant organic pollutants in common industrial effluents of fluctuating quality.