Methyl Tert‐Butyl Ether (MTBE) Degradation by Ferrous Ion‐Activated Persulfate Oxidation: Feasibility and Kinetics Studies

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using ferrous ion-activated persulfate oxidation to remediate groundwater contaminated with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). In this study, batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of various factors on the efficiency of MTBE degradation including persulfate concentrations, ferrous ion concentrations, and persulfate coupled with hydrogen peroxide. Results show that ferrous ion-activated persulfate oxidation was capable of degrading MTBE efficiently. Persulfate and ferrous ion concentrations correlated with MTBE degradation rates. However, excess addition of ferrous ion resulted in decreased MTBE degrading rates most likely because of competition for sulfate free radicals between ferrous ion and MTBE. Two main byproducts of MTBE degradation, tert-butyl formate and tert-butyl alcohol, were detected in the experiments; both were, however, subsequently degraded. Results of sulfate analysis show that proper addition of ferrous ion could prevent unnecessary persulfate decomposition. Water Environ. Res., 81, 687 (2009).

Degradation of p-chloroaniline by persulfate activated with ferrous sulfide ore particles

“…Therefore, the molar ratio of S 2 O 8 2À /Fe 2+ in a persulfate oxidation system is an important controlling factor for effective diesel removal. Chen et al [44], Rastogi et al [45], and Liang et al [46] obtained similar results for MTBE, PCB, and TCE treatment, respectively. All of these findings suggest that the molar ratio of persulfate and the iron-based activator must be optimized.…”

Application of persulfate to remediate petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil: Feasibility and comparison with common oxidants

“…The batch reactors were not disturbed to simulate the nearly static subsurface conditions. A pseudo-first order reaction model was applied to investigate the kinetics of diesel removal based on the results of previous studies [30,34,43]. …”

“…Thus, excess addition of ferrous ion may reduce the efficiency of contaminant removal [20,21]. Chen et al [43] reported that MTBE degradation rates were positively related to ferrous ion concentrations within the molar ratios of S 2 O 8 2− /Fe 2+ between 1/0.03 and 1/0.3. However, MTBE oxidation rate decreased significantly with a S 2 O 8 2− /Fe 2+ molar ratio of 1/1 due to the competition for sulfate free radicals between ferrous ion and MTBE.…”

“…Persulfate oxidation has been applied to degrade various contaminants, such as chlorinated ethylenes [34][35][36], chlorinated ethanes [34,37], chlorophenols [32,38], bisphenol A [39], PAHs [27,40], gasoline components [41,42], gasoline additives [30,43], and numerous volatile organic compounds [34]. But there are few studies on the treatment of petroleum hydrocarbons with higher average molecular weight than gasoline, such as diesel or fuel oil, using persulfate oxidation.…”

Trio Effects Portable Water Treatment System

“…In many occasions chemical methods were applied as an effective and commercially feasible water treatment technique to remove chemical contaminants through several approaches such as precipitation, oxidation or reduction and other chemical reactions that involved exchange of electrons between atoms [10][11][12][13]. In an advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), chemical, electrical or irradiative energy is supplied to the water matrix to produce highly reactive oxidants, which can attack and destroy the target compound.…”