Paracetamol degradation and kinetics by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs): Electro-peroxone, ozonation, goethite catalyzed electro-fenton and electro-oxidation

The advanced oxidation of paracetamol (PCT), frequently used analgesic, promoted by electro-oxidation (EOX), goethite catalyzed electro-Fenton (GEF) with goethite, ozonation and electro-peroxone (E-peroxone) was investigated. The degradation efficiency of the processes was evaluated considering the decay of PCT versus time. All the processes showed pseudo-first order character for PCT degradation. k(obs) values, at optimum conditions for an individual process, were defined as 0.0022, 0.0029, 0.0870 and 0.1662 min(-1) for EOX, GEF, ozonation and E-peroxone processes, respectively. Where EOX and GEF processes showed poor degradation efficiencies, novel E-peroxone process provided complete removal of PCT. The degradation of the PCT would mostly occur by OH center dot and molecular O-3 due to the higher rate constants achieved at E-peroxone and ozonation. Conversely, with lower k(obs) values gained at EOX, hydroxyl radicals would not contribute noticeably to the PCT degradation. In GEF process, due to relatively lower OH center dot production rate, lower k(obs) values were obtained for the degradation of PCT. The formation of reaction intermediates, aromatics and carboxylic acids, was also determined in this study.

Automated summary

The study investigated the degradation efficiency of different processes towards paracetamol, with E-peroxone process showing the highest efficiency. The degradation of PCT mainly occurs through hydroxyl radicals and molecular O-3. The EOX and GEF processes showed lower degradation efficiencies compared to E-peroxone process.