Abstract
A selective and efficient chemical reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas using micro-electrolysis on ZnAg combined with a photo-assisted reduction in the presence of formic acid was investigated. The 99.58% removal of nitrate, 0.073 min−1 of rate constant and 94.3% nitrogen selectivity were achieved in Zn-Ag/hv/HCOOH system under the initial pH 2.5, 13.8 mmol/L of formic acid and 60 g/L of Zn-0.06%Ag dose at 60 min. The Zn-Ag/hv/HCOOH system had the highest removal rate and nitrogen selectivity for nitrate reduction compared with the alone or two combinations of ZnAg bimetals, formic acid, and UV-A. Furthermore, the co-existence anions of HCO3− and CO32− showed a negative effect on nitrate reduction while SO42− had slightly promoted the reduction process. During the nitrate reduction by Zn-Ag/hv/HCOOH process, rapid reduction of NO3− to NO2− was primarily caused by ZnAg bimetal. Subsequently, the conversion of NO2− to N2 was mainly owing to the produced CO2− by the reaction of formic acid and UV-A. The results suggested a novel strategy of chemical reduction combined with photoreduction for denitrification with high reaction kinetic as well as high nitrogen gas selectivity.
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