Synergistic effect of thermal dehydrating on the emerging contaminants removal via Electro-Fenton

Abstract

Advanced oxidation processes can remove emerging contaminants from wastewater with complete degradation; however, the slow kinetics of the degradation process and extensive energy input hinder further commercialization. We developed a hybrid process, comprising electro-Fenton and membrane distillation, to simultaneously degrade organic pollutants and extract pure water from the mixture. Methyl orange, as a synthetic dye, and ibuprofen, as an emerging pharmaceutical contaminant, were used to study the effectiveness of the electro-Fenton/membrane distillation hybrid system. The dye degradation studies were conducted in three modes: electro-Fenton at room temperature, electro-Fenton at high temperatures, and electro-Fenton coupled with membrane distillation. The hybrid process showed 99% dye removal and 92% total organic carbon decay of an initial 20 ppm methyl orange after 6 h of operation. The mineralization current efficiency at room temperature was approximately 50%, which was increased by 5 and 10 times for high-temperature electro-Fenton and hybrid electro-Fenton/membrane distillation, respectively. The hybrid process also reduced the energy consumption based on the specific energy consumption results. The liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring was used for quantitative profiling of ibuprofen degradation with a concentration of 0.5 ppm. The electro-Fenton/membrane distillation (20–60) removed 94% of ibuprofen after 3 h compared to the 74.7% removal rate by electro-Fenton (60).