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Degradation mechanism of ammonia nitrogen synergistic with bromate under UV or UV/TiO2

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Abstract

Bromate (BrO3) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+) are both typical environmental pollutants: BrO3 has been categorized as one of the Group 2B carcinogen by IARC; an excess of NH4+ might result in the eutrophication of water. The existence of NH4+ could inhibit the transformation of bromide (Br) to bromate (BrO3). However, the interaction of NH4+ and BrO3 during the removal process is not clear. This study intends to disclose the mutual relationships of ammonia nitrogen and bromate ions under UV irradiation or UV/TiO2 conditions. Without UV irradiation, BrO3 and NH4+ were both stable even under the presentation of each other. Under UV irradiation or UV/TiO2 conditions, BrO3 and NH4+ promoted the degradation of each other, showing the synergistic degradation mechanism. In the neutral environment, both of BrO3 and NH4+ could be transformed effectively. Furthermore, NH4+ accelerated the transformation of BrO3 to Br at the reaction beginning and the existence of BrO3 is beneficial for the transformation of NH4+ to N2.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFC1805100), the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students of Jiangxi Province (S202010407002), and the Program of Qingjiang Excellent Young Talents, JXUST.

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Yiting Zeng and Jin Zeng repeated the experiments. Zhenwei Luo made a great contribution to the writing of the manuscript. Jun Liu analyzed the experiment data. Chunying Wang was the major writer of the manuscript. The elementary experiments were operated by Jiahao Pan and Yuxia Luo. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chunying Wang.

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Zeng, Y., Zeng, J., Luo, Z. et al. Degradation mechanism of ammonia nitrogen synergistic with bromate under UV or UV/TiO2. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 22284–22295 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23658-6

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