Electrochemical oxidation using a boron-doped diamond
(BDD) anode
has been extensively investigated in various wastewater treatments,
where the electrogenerated oxychlorides (ClO
x
–, x = 1 to 4) from Cl– oxidation have been well illustrated. However, the
false chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction induced by ClO
x
– adulteration has been almost
completely overlooked when evaluating the electrochemical wastewater
treatment performance. In this study, it was revealed that all the
ClO
x
– species except
ClO4
– served as strong oxidants in lieu
of dichromate to degrade organic matter under digestion conditions
during the COD test procedure. To eliminate the interference of ClO
x
– mixtures on the assessment
of electrochemical COD removal performance, the modified sulfite-based
reduction method was developed for the electrochemical case to remove
ClO
x
– mixtures from
the BDD-treated water samples before the COD test. It was demonstrated
that the unadulterated COD removal performance of the BDD-based electrochemical
system used for both synthetic and real wastewater treatments could
be obtained after sulfite-based reduction of the electrogenerated
ClO
x
– mixtures within
30 min in a sealed reaction chamber with the molar [sulfite]ini/[ClO
x
–]ini ratio of 1–3, where the reactants were isochronously depleted
without producing oxidative radicals (SO4
•– and •OH). Due to extreme lack of oxygen in the sealed ClO
x
–-sulfite system, radical propagation
reactions were terminated and ClO
x
– constituents (ClO3
–,
ClO2
–, and ClO–) were
reduced by sulfite stoichiometrically via the oxygen transfer process
with Cl– and SO4
2– as
the final products. This new sulfite-based protocol could be regarded
as a robust and adulteration-proof countermeasure for evaluating the
real COD removal performance of an electrochemical system.
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