A kinetic study for the Fenton and photo-Fenton paracetamol degradation in an annular photoreactor

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2019-02, Vol.26 (5), p.4312-4323
• Main Authors: Audino, Francesca, Conte, Leandro Oscar, Schenone, Agustina Violeta, Pérez-Moya, Montserrat, Graells, Moisès, Alfano, Orlando Mario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetaminophen - chemistry; Advanced Oxidation Technologies: State-of-the-Art in Ibero-American Countries; Analgesics; Annular photoreactor; AOPs; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbon - chemistry; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Degradation; Design of experiments; Drugs; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Enginyeria química; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Experimental design; Farmacocinètica; Ferrous ions; High-performance liquid chromatography; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydrogen Peroxide - chemistry; Iron; Iron - chemistry; Kinetic modeling; Kinetics; Least squares method; Least-Squares Analysis; Liquid chromatography; LVRPA; Organic carbon; Oxidation-Reduction; Paracetamol; Parameter estimation; Pharmaceuticals; Pharmacokinetics; Photocatalysis; Photon absorption; Radiation; Reaction time; Reagents; Regression analysis; Root-mean-square errors; Total organic carbon; Ultraviolet radiation; Ultraviolet Rays; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water Pollution Control; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-3098-4

A kinetic model describing Fenton and photo-Fenton degradation of paracetamol (PCT) and consumption of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) was proposed. A set of Fenton and photo-Fenton experiments (18 runs in total) was performed by fixing the initial concentration of PCT to 40 mg L −1 and varying the initial concentrations of H 2 O 2 and ferrous ion, Fe 2+ . The experimental set-up was a well-stirred annular photoreactor equipped with an actinic BL TL-DK 36 W/10 1SL lamp. Experimental results highlighted that PCT is no more detected by HPLC analysis within a minimum reaction time of 2.5 and a maximum reaction time of 15.0 min. Besides, a maximum conversion of total organic carbon (TOC) of 68.5% was observed after 75 min of reaction in case of using UV radiation and the highest concentrations of the Fenton reagents. The experimental data were used to fit the kinetic model. The radiation field inside the reactor was taken into account through the local volumetric rate of photon absorption, evaluated by assuming a line source model with spherical and isotropic emission. The kinetic parameters were estimated by using a non-linear least-squares regression procedure and root mean square errors (RMSE) were calculated in order to validate the feasibility of the proposed model. A good agreement between experimental and predicted data was observed and the lowest values of RMSE resulted in 5.84 and 9.59% for PCT and H 2 O 2 normalized concentrations, respectively.