Monochlorophenols degradation by UV/persulfate is immune to the presence of chloride: Illusion or reality?

The efficiency and, accordingly, the success of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has generally been evaluated on the basis of degradation kinetics. In practice, chloride in saline wastewater is often found to inhibit degradation processes. Therefore its highly desirable to develop more effective processes which are not affected by chloride. In this study, no significant interference of chloride with monochlorophenols (MCPs, e.g. 2-CP, 3-CP and 4-CP) degradation by the UV photo-activated persulfate (UV/PS) process has been observed. This indicated the “illusion” that the UV/PS process might have been an appropriate technology working under saline conditions. To further evaluate its applicability, the generation of reaction intermediates, of adsorbable organic halogen (AOX) accumulation and of acute toxicity of MCPs in the UV/PS system were examined. In reality, several aromatic chlorinated compounds (number of chlorine atoms ≥2), such as dichlorophenols and 2,3,5,3′,5′-pentachloro-biphenyl, were identified and quantified. An accumulation and relative increase of AOX with reaction time was observed in the UV/PS/Cl system. The acute toxicity tests with Photobacterium phosphoreum indicated that the inhibition effect of UV/PS reactions increased with reaction time regardless of the presence of chloride or not. The results of this study might be helpful for assessing the PS-based technologies for saline wastewater treatment.