Degradation of trichloroacetic acid by Fe/Ni bimetallic reactive PMS with hierarchical layered structure

• Published in: Environmental research Vol. 248; p. 118312
• Main Authors: Mu, Guangda, Yang, Yuxiang, Chang, Ziling, Yuan, Hongming, Huang, Yan, Batool, Irum, Liu, Xiangnong, Ni, Chaoying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.05.2024
• Subjects: Advanced oxidation process; byproducts; carcinogenicity; catalysts; disinfection; elemental composition; Fe/Ni bimetallic; Hollow mesoporous silicone nanoparticles; Mechanism of degradation; nanoparticles; oxidation; PMS activation; Trichloroacetic acid; Trichloroacetic acid; Fe/Ni bimetallic; PMS activation; Mechanism of degradation; Hollow mesoporous silicone nanoparticles; Advanced oxidation process
• ISSN: 0013-9351; 1096-0953; 1096-0953
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118312

Overuse of chlorinated disinfectants leads to a significant accumulation of disinfection by-products. Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) is a typical carcinogenic disinfection by-product. The efficacy of the conventional degradation process is reduced by the complex nature of its structure, causing a yearly increase in its prevalence within the ecological environment and consequent infliction of significant harm. In this paper, TCA was chosen as the research subject, Fe/Ni bimetallic nanoparticles were employed as the reducing catalyst, ZIF-8@HMON as the catalytic carrier combined with Fe/Ni nanoparticles, and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was introduced to construct the reducing-advanced oxidation synergistic system and investigated the effect of this system on the degradation performance and degradation pathway of TCA. Various characterization techniques, including TEM, SEM, XRD, FT-IR, XPS, BET, were employed to investigate the morphology, element composition and structure of composite materials analysis. Moreover, the conditions for TCA degradation can be optimized by changing the experimental environment. The results showed that 25 mg of composite catalyst (mole ratio Fe: Ni = 1:1) and 10 mg of PMS effectively degraded TCA within 20–80 mg/L range at pH = 3 and 55 °C, achieving maximum degradation within 20 min. Finally, the potential pathways of TCA degradation were analyzed using EPR and LC-MS, and the corresponding reaction mechanisms were proposed. [Display omitted] •A novel catalyst that can be used to degrade trichloroacetic acid (TCA).•Fe/Ni bimmetals form a reduced oxidation cooperative system with PMS.•The highest degradation rate of trichloroacetic acid was 95.66 %.•Assay that the degradation products are less toxic and environmentally friendly.