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Sonophotocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A and its intermediates with graphitic carbon nitride

  • Water Industry: Water-Energy-Health Nexus
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Abstract

Since bisphenol A (BPA) exhibits endocrine disrupting action and high toxicity in aqueous system, there are high demands to remove it completely. In this study, the BPA removal by sonophotocatalysis coupled with nano-structured graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, GCN) was conducted with various batch tests using energy-based advanced oxidation process (AOP) based on ultrasound (US) and visible light (Vis-L). Results of batch tests indicated that GCN-based sonophotocatalysis (Vis-L/US) had higher rate constants than other AOPs and especially two times higher degradation rate than TiO2-based Vis-L/US. This result infers that GCN is effective in the catalytic activity in Vis-L/US since its surface can be activated by Vis-L to transport electrons from valence band (VB) for utilizing holes (h+VB) in the removal of BPA. In addition, US irradiation exfoliated the GCN effectively. The formation of BPA intermediates was investigated in detail by using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS). The possible degradation pathway of BPA was proposed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a University of Malaya Research Grant (RP019B-13AET) and partly supported by the Geo-Advanced Innovative Action Project (2012000550002), funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Sharmini Sunasee & Gooyong Lee

  2. Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia

    Kah Hon Leong

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kwangwoon University, 20 Kwangwoon-Ro, Nowon-Gu, Seoul, 01897, Republic of Korea

    Kien Tiek Wong & Min Jang

  4. Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, -826004, India

    Saravanan Pichiah

  5. Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-791, Republic of Korea

    InWook Nah

  6. Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea

    Byong-Hun Jeon

  7. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Yeomin Yoon

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  1. Sharmini Sunasee
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  2. Kah Hon Leong
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  3. Kien Tiek Wong
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  8. Yeomin Yoon
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  9. Min Jang
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Correspondence to Min Jang.

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Sunasee, S., Leong, K.H., Wong, K.T. et al. Sonophotocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A and its intermediates with graphitic carbon nitride. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 1082–1093 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8729-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8729-7

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