Remediation of 2,4-dichlorophenol-contaminated groundwater using nano-sized CaO2 in a two-dimensional scale tank

This study evaluates the applicability of nano-sized calcium peroxide (CaO2) as a source of H2O2 to remediate 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) contaminated groundwater via the advanced oxidation process (AOP). First, the effect and mechanism of 2,4-DCP degradation by CaO2 at different Fe concentrations were studied (Fenton reaction). We found that at high Fe concentrations, 2,4-DCP almost completely degrades via primarily the oxidation of ·OH within 5 h. At low Fe concentrations, the degradation rate of 2,4-DCP decreased rapidly. The main mechanism was the combined action of ·OH and O2·−. Without Fe, the 2,4-DCP degradation reached 13.6% in 213 h, primarily via the heterogeneous reaction on the surface of CaO2. Besides, 2,4-DCP degradation was significantly affected by solution pH. When the solution pH was>10, the degradation was almost completely inhibited. Thus, we adopted a two-dimensional water tank experiment to study the remediation efficiency CaO2 on the water sample. We noticed that the degradation took place mainly in regions of pH < 10 (i.e., CaO2 distribution area), both upstream and downstream of the tank. After 28 days of treatment, the average 2,4-DCP degradation level was ≈36.5%. Given the inadequacy of the results, we recommend that groundwater remediation using nano CaO2: (1) a buffer solution should be added to retard the rapid increase in pH, and (2) the nano CaO2 should be injected copiously in batches to reduce CaO2 deposition.