Improving the efficiency of Fenton reactions and their application in the degradation of benzimidazole in wastewater

Reducing the quantity of sludge produced in Fenton reactions can be partly achieved by improving their efficiency. This paper firstly studies the effect of uniform deceleration feeding (ferrous iron and hydrogen peroxide) on the efficiency of a Fenton reaction by measuring the yield of hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate. The dynamic behavior of ˙OH was also investigated. The results indicated that uniform deceleration feeding was the best feeding method compared with one-time feeding and uniform feeding methods when the same amount of Fenton reagents and the same reaction times were used. Besides, it was found the COD removal rate reached 79.3% when this method was applied to degrade 2-(a-hydroxyethyl)benzimidazole (HEBZ); this COD removal rate is larger than those when the other two modes were used (they reached 60.7% and 72.1%, respectively). The degradation pathway of HEBZ was determined using PL, UV-vis, FTIR, HPLC and GC-MS. Ultimately, HEBZ was decomposed into three small molecules (2-hydroxypropylamine, oxalic acid, and 2-hydroxypropamide). This research is of great significance for the application of Fenton reactions in wastewater treatment.