Electro-Fenton Process with Emphasis on its Challenges and Future Prospects for Wastewater Treatment: A review

Abstract The efficiency of heterogeneous electro-Fenton technology on the degradation of recalcitrant organic pollutants and for an extensive kind of wastewaters with the purpose of addressing ever-increasing water-related challenges is incontrovertible. Due to its outstanding performance, eco-friendliness, easy automation, and operability over a wide range of pH, it has garnered significant attention from researchers and different industries to invest in its application. This review paper, briefly discusses the principal mechanism of the electro-Fenton process, crucial properties of a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst, the heterogeneous electro-Fenton system enabled with Fe-functionalized cathodic materials besides its essential operational parameters. Moreover, the authors comprehensively explored the major challenges that prevent commercialization of the electro-Fenton process and present future research direction with specific emphasis on the following areas for addressing those disconcerting challenges: synthesizing heterogeneous catalysts by application of advanced materials for improving its reusability and stability, exhaustive analysis of H 2 O 2 activation mechanism, life-cycle assessment of potential environmental effects, scale-up from lab-scale to industrial scale, fabrication of electrodes with state-of-the-art technologies, using the electro-Fenton process for remediation of biological contaminants, application of different cells in electro-Fenton process, hybridization of the electro-Fenton with other wastewater treatments technologies and full-scale analysis of economic costs.