Photo-electrooxidation treatment of Acetaminophen in aqueous solution using BDD-Fe and BDD-Cu systems

• Published in: Environmental technology Vol. 43; no. 8; pp. 1189 - 1199
• Main Authors: Sierra-Sánchez, Ana Gabriela, Linares-Hernández, Ivonne, Martínez-Miranda, Verónica, Almazán-Sánchez, Perla Tatiana, Teutli-Sequeira, Elia Alejandra, Castañeda-Juárez, Monserrat, Esparza-Soto, Mario
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03.04.2022
• Subjects: Acetaminophen; Acetaminophen (ACT); BDD; Electrodes; Electrooxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; photo-electrooxidation; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; UV light; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Electrooxidation; BDD; photo-electrooxidation; Acetaminophen (ACT); UV light
• ISSN: 0959-3330; 1479-487X
• DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2020.1822921

In this study, acetaminophen (ACT) in aqueous solution was treated with electrooxidation and photo-electrooxidation processes (PEO). An electrochemical cell was used for the treatment of different concentrations of ACT (10, 50 and 80 mg L −1 ). A 2 3 factorial design was proposed, and the variables studied were current intensity 0.5 A (45.45 mA cm −2 ) and 1.0 A (90.91 mA cm −2 ), electrode configuration (anode:BDD, cathode:Fe or Cu) and presence/absence of UV light; NaCl 0.043 M (2.5 g L −1 ) was used as supporting electrolyte, the initial pH was 5.5, and the treatment time was 3 h. The aqueous solutions were characterized before and after the treatment using infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), total carbon (TC), and fluorescence spectroscopy. The optimal operating conditions using an initial ACT concentration of 80 mg L −1 were 1.0 A, BDD-Fe configuration and UV light (254 nm). The removal efficiencies were 100% of ACT and 82.75% of TOC after 15 min of treatment. At concentrations of 50 and 10 mg L −1 , 77.16% and 50.29% of TOC were removed after 10 and 5 min of treatment, respectively. Finally, the kinetic study showed an increase in the rate constants when the UV light was applied.