Catalytic activation of O by Al-CNTs-CuO composite for Fenton-like degradation of sulfamerazine antibiotic at wide pH range.

In this study, a novel Al°-CNTs-CuO composite, capable of activating O to generate HO and further to reactive oxygen species (ROSs) at a wide pH range, was synthetized, characterized and applied for the degradation of sulfamerazine. In the activation of O by Al°-CNTs-CuO composite, HO was generated from the reaction of O with Al°-CNTs, which could be catalytically decomposed into O and OH by CuO, the formed Cu(II) could be rapidly reduced to CuO by Al°-CNTs in composite, which made Al°-CNTs-CuO composite reusable and decreased the leaching of copper ions into solution. The removal efficiency of SMR and TOC was 73.91 % and 56.80 %, respectively at initial pH = 5.8, T = 20 °C, O flow rate = 100 mL/min, Al°-CNTs-CuO dosage = 2 g/L, SMR = 50 mg/L, and reaction time = 60 min. The removal efficiency of SMR kept almost unchanged and the concentration of copper ions in solution was below 0.5 mg/L. The Al°-CNTs-CuO/O process could be used as a novel catalyst for the degradation of refractory organic contaminants in water and wastewater by Fenton-like process at a wide pH range through the in situ generation of HO.