Photo- and Electrochemical Water Treatment: For the Removal of Contaminants of Emerging Concern
Chapter 6: Action Mechanisms of Electro-Fenton and Photo-Electro-Fenton Processes for Pathogen and Organic Microcontaminant Removal
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Published:21 Dec 2022
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Special Collection: 2022 ebook collectionSeries: Chemistry in the Environment
S. Giannakis, I. Salmerón, S. Malato, I. Oller, 2022. "Action Mechanisms of Electro-Fenton and Photo-Electro-Fenton Processes for Pathogen and Organic Microcontaminant Removal", Photo- and Electrochemical Water Treatment: For the Removal of Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Halan Prakash, Rita S Dhodapkar, Kevin McGuigan
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The photo-Fenton process has been widely studied as a tertiary treatment for the degradation of microcontaminants along with the disinfection of pathogenic microorganisms. However, its combination with other technologies can increase the yield of the treatment thus increasing the feasibility of a real application at larger scale. In this sense, electrochemical processes pose an interesting complement for photo-Fenton since reagents could be electro-generated on the electrode surface, saving the risks and costs of storage and transport. The application of photo-electron-Fenton processes presents a series of advantages, which can be detrimental for the microbial life cycle. As a result, such treatments combine the synergistic generation of highly oxidative disinfecting species, less oxidative but germicidal ROS (i.e. H2O2), and unfavourable conditions for microbial survival. The complex mechanism of microorganism disinfection is further discussed in this chapter, elucidating the various pathways and exploitable aspects that lead to their inactivation via electro-oxidation processes or even electro-Fenton when H2O2 is electro-generated in the bulk reaction. Finally, the pitfalls and limitations of upscaling the photo-electro-Fenton (PEF) processes are presented and the effect of operational parameters in the PEF performance for microcontaminant and microorganism abatement is further discussed.