Degradation of Organic Contaminants in the Fe(II)/Peroxymonosulfate Process under Acidic Conditions: The Overlooked Rapid Oxidation Stage

The iron(II)-activated peroxymonosulfate [Fe(II)/PMS] process is effective in degrading organic contaminants with a rapid oxidation stage followed by a slow one. Nevertheless, prior studies have greatly underestimated the degradation rates of organic contaminants in the rapid oxidation stage and ignored the differences in the kinetics and mechanism of organic contaminants degradation in these two oxidation stages. In this work, we investigated the kinetics and mechanisms of organic contaminants in this process under acidic conditions by combining the stopped-flow spectrophotometric method and batch experiments. The organic contaminants were rapidly oxidized with rate constants of 0.18–2.9 s–1 in the rapid oxidation stage. Meanwhile, both Fe(IV) and SO4•– were active oxidants and contributed differently to the degradation of different organic contaminants in this stage. Additionally, the presence of Cl– promoted the degradation of both phenol and estradiol but the effects of Br– and humic acid on phenol degradation differed from those on estradiol degradation in the rapid oxidation stage. In contrast, the degradation of phenol and estradiol was slow and the amounts of Fe(IV) and SO4•– generated were small in the slow oxidation stage. This work updates the fundamental understanding of the degradation of organic contaminants in this process.