Biochar loaded with cobalt ferrate activated persulfate to degrade naphthalene

Considering the simple preparation of biochar and the excellent activation performance of cobalt ferrate material, a biochar supported cobalt ferrate composite was synthesized by a solvothermal method. The material was used to activate persulfate (PS) to degrade naphthalene (NAP) in water. The structure and morphology characterization showed that the composite (CoFe₂O₄-BC) was successfully prepared. Under the conditions of 0.25 g L^-1 CoFe₂O₄-BC and 1 mM PS, 90.6% NAP (the initial concentration was 0.1 mM) was degraded after 30 minutes. The degradation kinetics of NAP followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model with a rate constant of 0.0645 min^-1. With the increase of the dosage of activator and PS, the removal rate of NAP could be increased to 99.5%. The coexistence of anions and humic acids inhibited the removal of NAP. The acid environment promoted the removal of NAP while the alkaline environment inhibited it. After four cycles of CoFe₂O₄-BC material, the removal rate of NAP decreased from 90.6% to 79.4%. The removal of TOC was about 45% after each cycle. After the first cycle, the concentration of leached cobalt ion and leached iron ion was about 310 μg L^-1 and 30 μg L^-1 respectively. The free radical quenching experiments showed that SO₄ ^-˙ and OH˙ were the main causes of NAP removal, and the possible degradation path of NAP was elucidated by DFT calculation.