Mineralization, kinetics, and degradation pathway of pentachlorophenol degradation from aqueous media via persulfate/dithionite process

Abstract The applicability of the dithionite/persulfate (DTN/PS) process for the degradation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) as an organic contaminant from aqueous solutions was investigated. Effective operational parameters, including the initial PCP concentration (25, 50, 100, and 150 mg/L), PS concentration (5, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L), DTN concentration (2.5, 5, 7, and 10 mg/L), solution pH (5, 7, 9, and 11), and reaction time (3, 5, 7, and 10 min) were investigated. To identify the influences of experimental factors involved in PCP degradation, an experimental design based on an orthogonal array was proposed using the Taguchi method. Based on the results, 97.28% of the PCP was removed at the optimal conditions (initial concentration of 25 mg/L, Na-PS (sodium persulfate) concentration of 20 mg/L, Na-DTN (sodium dithionite) concentration of 10 mg/L, pH of 11, and reaction time of 10 min) in the DTN/PS process. Moreover, COD and TOC removal rates were 75.2% and 41% in the DTN/PS process, respectively. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that PS is the most effective agent in removing PCP in the DTN/PS process. The compounds of phenol, 3,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, oxalic acid, propionic acid, tetrachloro-o-benzoquinone, and butanedioic acid were identified as intermediates.