Harnessing Magnesium Ion for Innovative Fenton-Like Processes: Greener Multi-Oxidants Strategy to Depollute Water

Abstract

Organic water pollution poses significant environmental and public health challenges. Fenton reaction process is used as an advanced oxidation process to depolllute water, typically relying on transition metals and effective under acidic conditions of pH 3.0, contributing to secondary pollution. This research presents a Fenton-like process for the first time without applying transition metals that produce multi-oxidative species and are operational around neutral pH conditions. A solution comprising magnesium ions (Mg²⁺), bicarbonate ions (HCO₃⁻), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) at pH 7.4 generated reactive oxygen species that effectively degrade organic pollutants (e.g. dimethyl sulfoxide and acetamidophenol) in water. Product analysis was conducted using 1H-NMR and HPLC techniques to determine the efficiency of the oxidation process and to identify transformation products. The findings revealed that the active multi-oxidizing agents, hydroxyl radical and carbonate radical or superoxide and carbonate radical, effectively depolluted water. This study is novel in demonstrating that a Fenton-like process can be achieved with Mg²⁺ serving only as a template to facilitate redox reactions rather than participating directly. These findings suggest a more sustainable approach to remediating water pollutants. The mechanisms for generating oxidizing radicals offer potential applications in both environmental cleanup and biological processes.