CuS assisted Fe(III)-induced peracetic acid activation for bisphenol A degradation: significance of synergetic roles of copper and sulfur in enhanced Fenton-like process

Peracetic acid (PAA), as a promising synthetic organic acid disinfectant, is widely used in advanced oxidation processes to produce radicals for micropollutant abatement. While PAA activation driven by common Fenton-like processes suffers from the slow iron cyclic conversion and production of ferric sludge. This study introduces a metal sulfide, i.e., CuS, to assist the Fe(III)-induced PAA activation via multiple pathways, including the direct PAA activation and Fe(II)/Fe(III) cyclic conversion acceleration, termed as the CuS/Fe(III)/PAA process, to produce •OH, O2•−, Fe(IV), CH3C(O)O•, and CH3C(O)OO•, capable of degrading bisphenol A (BPA), one of representative endocrine disruptors in wastewater, thus overcoming the limitation of conventional Fenton-like processes. Cu(I), S22−, and S2− are determined to be catalytic sites of CuS responsible for the promotion of PAA activation. The CuS/Fe(III)/PAA process exhibits excellent degradation performances under acid conditions and performed high reactivities toward the degradation of various contaminants. The introduction of metal sulfide into the Fe(III)/PAA process improves the PAA activation and micropollutant degradation and reduces accumulation of iron sludge. Of particular significance is that water matrices performed limited effects on the BPA degradation, suggesting the potential of CuS/Fe(III)/PAA process to degrade micropollutants in real water treatment.