Abstract
Complex wastewater matrices present a major environmental concern. Besides the biodegradable organics, they may contain a great variety of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and other xenobiotics. The electrochemically activated persulfate process, an efficient way to generate sulfate radicals, has been widely applied to the degradation of such complex effluents with very good results. This review presents the fundamentals of the electro-persulfate processes, highlighting the advantages and limitations, followed by an exhaustive evaluation on the application of this process for the treatment of complex industrial effluents. An overview of the main relevant experimental parameters/details and their influence on the organic load removal is presented and discussed, having in mind the application of these technologies at an industrial scale. Finally, the future perspectives for the application of the electro-persulfate processes in the treatment of complex wastewater matrices is outlined.
Highlights
Increasing industrialization and urbanization results in the generation of large volumes of wastewaters, which represent a major environmental concern, due to their possible release in the environment without the appropriate treatment
In the past years, several studies have been focused on the development of new technologies that enable the efficient treatment of these complex wastewater matrices to comply with the discharge regulations
advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are based on the in situ generation of the nonselective strong oxidant hydroxyl radical (HO ), with a redox potential of 1.8–2.7 V, which unselectively promotes the partial or complete mineralization of a wide range of organic compounds [2]
Summary
Increasing industrialization and urbanization results in the generation of large volumes of wastewaters, which represent a major environmental concern, due to their possible release in the environment without the appropriate treatment. Municipal, livestock, refinery, industrial or food-processing activities, among others, wastewaters can present, in its composition, biodegradable organics, a great variety of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and other xenobiotics [1]. Most of these compounds are persistent and adversely affect human health and aquatic biota, imparting genotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and bioaccumulation, which makes it imperative to treat the wastewaters before their discharge into water courses [1]. The aim of this paper is to present a general review of the most relevant applications of the electro-persulfate processes in the treatment of complex wastewater matrices. The future perspectives for application of the electro-persulfate processes at an industrial scale are presented
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