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Effects of oxygen and weak magnetic field on Fe0/bisulfite system: performance and mechanisms

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 23, pages 16761–16770 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

The performance and mechanisms of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation by the Fe0/bisulfite system were systematically investigated for the first time. The evidences presented in this study verified that O2 was a crucial factor that affected the mechanism of Fe0/bisulfite-driven 4-NP degradation. In the Fe0/bisulfite/O2 system, Fe0 acted as a supplier of Fe2+ to catalyze bisulfite oxidation that induced a chain reaction to produce reactive radicals for 4-NP degradation. While under N2 purging condition, bisulfite worked as a specified reductant that facilitated the transformation of Fe3+ to nascent Fe2+ ions, which principally accounted for the reductive removal of 4-NP. The application of a weak magnetic field (WMF) efficiently improved the removal rate of 4-NP and did not alter the mechanisms in both Fe0/bisulfite/O2 and Fe0/bisulfite/N2 processes. The secondary radicals, HO·, SO4 ·−, and SO5 ·−, were considered as the most possible active oxidants contributing to the oxidative removal of 4-NP and even partial mineralization under an oxic condition. Compared with anoxic conditions, the performance removal of 4-NP by the WMF-Fe0/bisulfite/O2 system showed less pHini dependence. To facilitate the application of WMF-Fe0/bisulfite/O2 technology in real practice, premagnetization of Fe0 was employed to combine with bisulfite/O2 and proved to be an effective and applicable method for 4-NP removal.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21277095, 51478329, 21522704), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20130072110026), and the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2012ZX07403-001).

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Urban Construction, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, 332005, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Xinmei Xiong, Jinhong Gan & Wei Zhan

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Sun

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  1. Xinmei Xiong
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  2. Jinhong Gan
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Correspondence to Xinmei Xiong.

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Responsible editor: Santiago V. Luis

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Xiong, X., Gan, J., Zhan, W. et al. Effects of oxygen and weak magnetic field on Fe0/bisulfite system: performance and mechanisms. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 16761–16770 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6672-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6672-7

Keywords

  • Bisulfite
  • Weak magnetic field
  • Oxidation
  • Reduction
  • Premagnetization
  • Free radical