Degradation of Poly(ethylene glycol) in Aqueous Solution by Photo-Fenton and H₂O₂/UV Processes

Abstract

This article reports experimental results obtained in a laboratory-scale photochemical reactor on the photodegradation of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in aqueous solutions by means of the photo-Fenton and H2O2/UV processes. Dilute water solutions of PEG were fed to a batch reactor, mixed with pertinent reactants, and allowed to react under different conditions. Reaction progress was evaluated by sampling and analyzing the concentration of the total organic carbon (TOC) in solution as a function of the reaction time. Organic acids formed during oxidation were determined by HPLC analyses. The main acids detected in both processes were acetic and formic. Glycolic acid was detected only in the photo-Fenton process, and malonic acid was detected only in the H2O2/UV treatment, indicating that different reaction paths occur in these processes. The characteristics of both processes are discussed, based on the evolution of the TOC−time curves and the concentration profiles of the monitored organic acids. The experimental results constitute a contribution to the design of industrial processes for the treatment of wastewaters containing soluble polymers with similar properties.

An Evaluation of Osmotic Technique Under Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation Exposure

“…Das & Gupta (2005) noted that some changes in the FTiR spectrum of PEG when exposed under UV lamp for more than 1 hour. In the presence of oxidation chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide and titanium oxide, the degradation of PEG in aqueous form was found to occur at shorter periods of exposure [25] [26].…”

Mineralización De Etilenglicol Por Foto-Fenton Asistido Con Ferrioxalato

“…Éstos aumentan la degradación de contaminantes orgánicos con respecto al tratamiento Fenton simple. Sin embargo, a pesar de ser un método eficiente, el H 2 O 2 debe ser agregado constantemente y se debe controlar el pH del sistema en un valor entre 3 y 4 para evitar la precipitación del Fe 2+ como hidróxido o sales (Nogueira et al 2005, Giroto et al 2010. Como se muestra en el cuadro II, el porcentaje de degradación de etilenglicol fue de sólo 25.8 % después de 24 h de reacción.…”

Optimisation of photo‐Fenton‐like degradation of aqueous polyacrylic acid using Box‐Behnken experimental design

“…The four-factor Box-Behnken experimental design and the observed and predicted values for the percent TOC removal and the 'pseudo'-second order reaction constant by the developed quadratic models are shown in Table 2. As mentioned earlier, the RSM was used to estimate the parameters indicating an empirical relationship between the input variables and the responses as shown in Equation (5). Therefore, the quadratic model equations for predicting the percent TOC removal (Y 1 ) and the 'pseudo'-second order rate constant (Y 2 ) are presented in the following second order polynomial equations:…”

“…[3,4] Also, as a result of their water solubility, they are able to reach sewage disposal systems and consequently contaminate water resources. [5] On the other hand, since they contain a low concentration of polymers, they neither can be recycled nor incinerated. Therefore, in order to achieve applicable and robust results, experimental and analytical methods must be adapted to gain insight into their degradation process.…”

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] AOTs through the use of short-lived highly reactive oxygen derived species render the contaminants to less toxic intermediates. [17][18][19][20][21] However, only few studies are available in the open literature on the photochemical degradation and mineralisation of polymers [5,[22][23][24] . The photo-Fenton-like process, as one of the AOTs, has received great attention in recent decades due to its capacity in oxidising and mineralising recalcitrant compounds that are not amenable to biodegradation.…”