Abstract
The mechanisms and reaction pathway of UV photo-assisted Fenton-like degradation of progesterone in water and wastewater were investigated. The reaction followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics for both the dark Fenton-like and UV photo-Fenton-like processes. The reaction kinetics of the UV photo-assisted process improved with the presence of humic acid (HA) in wastewater, due to the formation of Fe(III)-HA complexes which enhanced Fe(II) production by a ligand-to-metal charge transfer. The UV photo-assisted process reduced the amount of ferric required to completely degrade progesterone by 60 % and lowered the activation energy to 42 kJ/mol compared to 104 kJ/mol for the dark Fenton-like process. Complete degradation of progesterone was achieved through a multi-step process involving several intermediate compounds.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 13 |
| Pages (from-to) | 2757–2766 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Early online date | 19 Sept 2016 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2016 |
Bibliographical note
This paper is not available on the repository. There is an embargo period of 12 months until 19 September 2017The final publication is available at link.springer.com
Keywords
- Degradation
- Endocrine disruptors
- Photo-Fenton
- Progesterone
- Ultraviolet irradiation