Silver ion catalyzed cerium(IV) mediated electrochemical oxidation of phenol in nitric acid medium

Mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO) is one of the sustainable processes for organic pollutant destruction and has been employed for organic mineralization reactions by many researchers. In the MEO a metal ion capable of exhibiting redox behavior is oxidized from lower oxidation state to higher oxidation state by an electrochemical cell and subsequently used as an oxidant for mineralizing the toxic organics into CO2 and water. The net result is the consumption of electrical energy for organic mineralization. Therefore, the current efficiency is an important factor and maximizing the current efficiency is one of the ways of reducing the running cost of the MEO process. It has been reported in the literature that the current efficiency could be increased using a metal ion catalyst having a good redox potential. In this study Ce(IV) mediated electrochemical oxidation of phenol was carried out with silver ion catalyst. The current efficiency for the electro-oxidation of cerium(III) in nitric acid was found to be increased by the addition of silver ions. This mixed mediator system was tested for the oxidation of phenol in order to optimize the parameters for organic pollutant destruction. The mineralization efficiency calculated based on the CO2 evolution was found to be higher for silver catalyzed Ce(IV) mediated oxidation compared to the non-silver catalyzed system.