Ferrihydrite/ultrasound activated peroxymonosulfate for humic acid removal

In this study, ferrihydrite/ultrasound (US) system was used to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to treat humic acid (HA) in artificial aqueous. The physical and chemical properties of ferrihydrite were characterized using SEM, zeta potential, BET, XRD, FTIR, and XPS analysis. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of various factor on HA removal, including dosage of ferrihydrite, PMS concentration and pH value. The combination uses of US and ferrihydrite had obvious synergistic effect for HA removal. Under ferrihydrite/US/PMS system, nonthermal effect of US played the main role for HA removal. According to the result of radical quenching experiment, (1)O(2) was identified as the main reactive oxidative species (ROS) which contributed to HA removal. The study indicates ferrihydrite/US/PMS system is promising strategy for treatment of natural organic pollutant.