LAUSR

Fenton based reactions are effective for pharmaceutical removals, but traditional Fenton processes have drawbacks of pH adjustment and large amount of produced iron sludge. To overcome these challenges, a heterogeneous electro-Fenton process was proposed for effective contaminant degradation at circumneutral pH without iron sludge production. The anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen (a common pharmaceutical in natural waters) was used as a representative contaminant. Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) supported ferric citrate (Cit-Fe/ACFs) was synthesized and used as the cathode, and RuO2/Ti was used as the anode. H2O2 was electro-generated in situ from O2 reduction and the production rate of OH per unit area was 6.8 μM W-1 cm-2 using Cit-Fe/ACFs cathode. A maximal ibuprofen degradation of 97% was obtained after 120 min at the current density of 7 mA cm-2. The electrical energy per order (EEO) varied from 0.24±0.03 to 2.65±0.04 kWh log-1 m-3 when the current density ranged from 1 to 7 mA cm-2. The Cit-Fe/ACFs cathode showed relatively good reusability and ∼85% IBP removal was achieved after 6 cycles of degradation. Our results showed that the prepared Cit-Fe/ACFs cathode was promising for the treatment of pharmaceutical contaminants.