Abstract
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-known endocrine disruptor in the environment which is not readily oxidised during wastewater treatment at Municipal Authorities. The aim of this work is to evaluate the environmental value of the wastewater treatment of a novel heterogeneous oxidation catalyst by means of the degradation of BPA, avoiding sewage sludge and its post-treatments. A surface-functionalised polyacrylonitrile (PAN) mesh has been produced by reaction of the cyano group of PAN with hydrazine and hydroxylamine salts. This surface-functionalised PAN is then exposed to iron (III) salt solution to promote the ligation of Fe(III) to the functional groups to form the active catalytic site. The experiments were set up in two different batch reactors at laboratory scale at different temperatures and initial pH. The degradation of BPA was detected by measuring the absorbance of BPA in Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography at 280 nm. A total elimination of 75 ppm of BPA in less than 30 min was achieved under 300 ppm H2O2, 0.5 g PAN catalyst, initial pH 3 and 60 °C. Almost no adsorption of BPA on the catalyst was detected and there was no significant difference in activity of the catalyst after use for two cycles.
Highlights
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been mentioned frequently for their deteriorating generative function to a number of living organisms on Earth [1]
Process (AOPs) are effective and promising methods to eliminate persistent organics pollutants (POPs) in contrast to biological treatment methods because biodegradation may be adversely affected by the toxicity of Bisphenol A (BPA) [13,14]
The heterogenous Fenton process is able to avoid the precipitation of insoluble species, such as metal oxo species (M(n+1)+ =O) as a metal oxide or hydroxide sludge, because the iron catalyst is bound onto the functionalised PAN to form a solid phase catalyst
Summary
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been mentioned frequently for their deteriorating generative function to a number of living organisms on Earth [1]. Many studies have been performed to produce better heterogeneous Fenton catalysts to oxidise a range of different organic substrate using, for example, silica supports [15], Fe-exchanged pillared beidelite [16], a resin support for Fe(III) [17], immobilisation of Fe(III) cations by ion-exchange on a protonated microporous silicate known as HY zeolite [18], Fe3+ containing ashes [19] or Fe(III) immobilised on alumina [20] etc This improvement keeps the iron substantially in the solid phase and adds the advantage of less secondary treatment
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