Endow activated carbon with the ability to activate peroxymonosulfate for the treatment of refractory organics

Abstract

Herein, we demonstrated that various activated carbons could be endowed with high ability activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) just through pyrolysis for the degradation of various organic pollutants. The ofloxacin (OFX) was proved to be degraded rather than adsorbed in the advanced oxidation processes. The catalyst showed good stability and could be recovered by simple pyrolysis showing the initial activity. The defects were identified as active sites of the catalyst, and π-π∗ shake up was related to the catalyst activity. Mediated electron transfer was verified to be responsible for the degradation of OFX. The inhibition effect of furfuryl alcohol (FFA) on the degradation of contaminant was proved to be insufficient to verify 1O2. The main OFX degradation intermediates were identified by LC-MS, and possible degradation pathways were proposed. This study provided a simple way for the development of low-cost, metal-free, and high-efficient carbonaceous materials to activate PMS in advanced oxidation processes, and proposed new insights for the exploration of PMS activation mechanism.

Keywords

• Activated carbon
• Advanced oxidation processes
• Peroxymonosulfate
• Electron transfer pathway