Challenges and opportunities for large-scale applications of the electro-Fenton process.

As an electrochemical advanced oxidation process, the electro-Fenton (EF) process has gained significant importance in the treatment of wastewater and persistent organic pollutants in recent years. As recently reported in a bibliometric analysis, the number of scientific publications on EF have increased exponentially since 2002, reaching nearly 500 articles published in 2022 (Deng et al., 2022).

Integration of electrochemical processes in a treatment system for landfill leachates based on a membrane bioreactor.

The use of electrocoagulation (EC) and anodic oxidation (AO) processes was studied for improving a treatment system for landfill leachates based on a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and a nanofiltration step. The main limitation of the current full-scale system is related to the partial removal of organic compounds that leads to operation of the nanofiltration unit with a highly concentrated feed solution. Application of the EC before the MBR participated in partial removal of the organic load (40 %) with limited energy consumption (2.

Heterogeneous electro-Fenton treatment of chemotherapeutic drug busulfan using magnetic nanocomposites as catalyst.

The rapid and efficient mineralization of the chemotherapeutic drug busulfan (BSF) as the target pollutant has been investigated for the first time by three different heterogeneous EF systems that were constructed to ensure the continuous electro-generation of HO and OH consisting of: i) a multifunctional carbon felt (CF) based cathode composed of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), iron oxide nanoparticles and carbon black (CB) (rGO-FeO/CB@CF), ii) rGO modified cathode (rGO/CB@CF) and rGO supported FeO (rGO-FeO) catalyst and iii) rGO modified cathode (rGO/CB@CF) and multi walled carbon nanotube supported FeO (MWCNT-FeO) catalyst. The effects of main variables, including the catalyst amount, applied current and initial pH were investigated. Based on the results, HO was produced by oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the liquid-solid interface of both fabricated cathodes.

Comparison of homogeneous and heterogeneous electrochemical advanced oxidation processes for treatment of textile industry wastewater.

This study aimed at understanding the influence of the generation of oxidants in a heterogeneous way at boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode (anodic oxidation (AO)) or homogeneously in the bulk (electro-Fenton (EF)) during treatment of a textile industry wastewater. Both processes achieved high TOC removal. A yield of 95 % was obtained by combining EF with BDD anode during 6 h of treatment.

Remediation of soils contaminated by hydrophobic organic compounds: How to recover extracting agents from soil washing solutions?

A lot of soil (particularly, former industrial and military sites) has been contaminated by various highly toxic contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) or chlorinated solvents. Soil remediation is now required for their promotion into new industrial or real estate activities. Therefore, the soil washing (SW) process enhanced by the use of extracting agents (EAs) such as surfactants or cyclodextrins (CDs) has been developed for the removal of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) from contaminated soils.

Electro-oxidation of secondary effluents from various wastewater plants for the removal of acetaminophen and dissolved organic matter.

Electro-oxidation of acetaminophen (ACT) in three different doped secondary effluents collected from a conventional Municipal Waste Water Treatment Plant (MWWTP), a MWWTP using a membrane bioreactor (WWTP MBR) and a lab-scale MBR treating source-separated urine (Urine MBR) was investigated by electro-Fenton (EF) coupled with anodic oxidation (AO) using sub-stoichiometric titanium oxide anode (TiO). After 8 h of treatment, 90 ± 15%, 76 ± 3.8% and 46 ± 1.

A 2D Convection-Diffusion Model of Anodic Oxidation of Organic Compounds Mediated by Hydroxyl Radicals Using Porous Reactive Electrochemical Membrane.

In recent years, electrochemical methods utilizing reactive electrochemical membranes (REM) have been considered as a promising technology for efficient degradation and mineralization of organic compounds in natural, industrial and municipal wastewaters. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional (2D) convection-diffusion-reaction model concerning the transport and reaction of organic species with hydroxyl radicals generated at a TiO REM operated in flow-through mode. It allows the determination of unknown parameters of the system by treatment of experimental data and predicts the behavior of the electrolysis setup.

Electro-Fenton treatment of a complex pharmaceutical mixture: Mineralization efficiency and biodegradability enhancement.

Combination of the electro-Fenton process with a post-biological treatment could represent a cost-effective solution for application of electrochemical advanced oxidation processes. The objective of this study was to assess this treatment strategy in the case of a complex pharmaceutical mixture. First, main operating parameters ([Fe] and current) of the electro-Fenton process were optimized.

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes using novel electrode materials for mineralization and biodegradability enhancement of nanofiltration concentrate of landfill leachates.

The objective of this study was to implement electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) for mineralization and biodegradability enhancement of nanofiltration (NF) concentrate from landfill leachate initially pre-treated in a membrane bioreactor (MBR). Raw carbon felt (CF) or FeFe layered double hydroxides-modified CF were used for comparing the efficiency of homogeneous and heterogeneous electro-Fenton (EF), respectively. The highest mineralization rate was obtained by heterogeneous EF: 96% removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was achieved after 8 h of electrolysis at circumneutral initial pH (pH = 7.

Regeneration of Activated Carbon Fiber by the Electro-Fenton Process.

An electro-Fenton (EF) based technology using activated carbon (AC) fiber as cathode and BDD as anode has been investigated for both regeneration of AC and mineralization of organic pollutants. The large specific surface area and low intraparticle diffusion resistance of AC tissue resulted in high maximum adsorption capacity of phenol (PH) (3.7 mmol g) and fast adsorption kinetics.

Mineralization of organic pollutants by anodic oxidation using reactive electrochemical membrane synthesized from carbothermal reduction of TiO.

Reactive Electrochemical Membrane (REM) prepared from carbothermal reduction of TiO is used for the mineralization of biorefractory pollutants during filtration operation. The mixture of TiO and TiO Magnéli phases ensures the high reactivity of the membrane for organic compound oxidation through OH mediated oxidation and direct electron transfer. In cross-flow filtration mode, convection-enhanced mass transport of pollutants can be achieved from the high membrane permeability (3300 LMH bar).

Anodic oxidation of surfactants and organic compounds entrapped in micelles - Selective degradation mechanisms and soil washing solution reuse.

Formation of micelles at high surfactant concentration strongly modifies organic pollutant oxidation mechanisms and kinetics during anodic oxidation (AO) using boron doped diamond (BDD) anode. Results presented and discussed in this study emphasized the following mechanisms: (i) micelles act as a protective environment and reduce the availability of target molecules towards BDD(OH); (ii) the use of low current density strongly reduces micelle degradation kinetics due to both steric hindrance phenomenon for oxidation of micelles at the BDD surface and decrease of mediated oxidation in the bulk; (iii) compounds solubilized in surfactant-containing solutions can be either oxidized after degradation of the protective environment formed by micelles or if they are present as free extra-micellar compounds. Therefore, selective degradation of organic compounds entrapped in micelles can be achieved by using low current density and high surfactant concentration.

Bioelectro-Fenton: evaluation of a combined biological-advanced oxidation treatment for pharmaceutical wastewater.

Electro-Fenton (EF), an advanced oxidation process, can be combined with a biological process for efficient treatment of wastewater containing refractory pollutants such as pharmaceuticals. In this study, a biological process was implemented in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), which was either preceded or followed by EF treatment. The main goal was to evaluate the potential of two sequences of a combined electrochemical-biological process: EF/SBR and SBR/EF for the treatment of real wastewater spiked with 0.

Characteristics of PAH tar oil contaminated soils-Black particles, resins and implications for treatment strategies.

Tar oil contamination is a major environmental concern due to health impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the difficulty of reaching acceptable remediation end-points. Six tar oil-contaminated soils with different industrial histories were compared to investigate contamination characteristics by black particles. Here we provide a simple method tested on 6 soils to visualize and identify large amounts of black particles (BP) as either solid aggregates of resinified and weathered tar oil or various wood/coke/coal-like materials derived from the contamination history.

Removal of hydrophobic organic pollutants from soil washing/flushing solutions: A critical review.

The release of hydrophobic organoxenobiotics such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons or polychlorobiphenyls results in long-term contamination of soils and groundwaters. This constitutes a common concern as these compounds have high potential toxicological impact. Therefore, the development of cost-effective processes with high pollutant removal efficiency is a major challenge for researchers and soil remediation companies.