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Degradation of representative perfluorinated and hydrocarbon surfactants by electron beam irradiation

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Abstract

Perfluorinated and hydrocarbon surfactants are important contaminants in wastewater. In this study, degradation of surfactants including PFOS, LAS, and CTAB under electron beam irradiation is investigated under different irradiation conditions (0–10 kGy absorbed dose, pH 3–11). Fulvic acid and H2O2 are used as active species inhibitors to study the effect of OH and eaq− on surfactants degradation. Irradiation degradation products of surfactants are analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The degradation mechanisms of surfactants are summarized according to the experimental results. It shows that surfactants degradation is promoted at a high absorbed dose and pH value. The degradation rate of PFOS, LAS, and CTAB is 93.8%, 89.1%, and 80.6% maximum, respectively. The eaq− plays a dominant role in the breakage of C–C bonds in surfactants. The bonds of C–F, C–S, and C–N are mainly destroyed by OH. The degradation of surfactants follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. Degradation products of surfactants include various long and short-chain molecules. Furthermore, concentrations of short-chain products increase with absorbed dose because of further degradation of long-chain products. This study shows the potential application for electron beam irradiation technology to remove perfluorinated and hydrocarbon surfactants from wastewater.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21771045), the project of Young Talents of China National Nuclear Corporation, University Nursing Program for Young Scholars with Creative Talents in Heilongjiang Province (No. UNPYSCT-2018013), Heilongjiang Provincial Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. LBH-Z18232). The authors would like to thank Heilongjiang Institute of Atomic Energy for irradiation experiments and measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Caishan Jiao, Meng Zhang, Yang Gao & Yaorui Li

  2. Heilongjiang Key Laboratory of Nuclear Technology Application, Heilongjiang Institute of Atomic Energy, Harbin, 150086, People’s Republic of China

    Zhigang Li & Hongtao Zhao

  3. Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu, 610213, People’s Republic of China

    Xiusen Men

  4. Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, 150080, People’s Republic of China

    Jiancong Liu

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  1. Caishan Jiao
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  3. Zhigang Li
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  4. Meng Zhang
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  5. Yang Gao
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Correspondence to Yaorui Li or Hongtao Zhao.

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Jiao, C., Men, X., Li, Z. et al. Degradation of representative perfluorinated and hydrocarbon surfactants by electron beam irradiation. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 1691–1699 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08224-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08224-1

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