Photodegradation of benzene and phenanthrene in aqueous solution using pulsed ultraviolet light

• Published in: KSCE journal of civil engineering Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 1607 - 1613
• Main Authors: Lee, Hanuk, Yoon, Yeomin, Her, Namguk, Han, Jonghun, Oh, Jeill, Park, Jae-Woo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul Korean Society of Civil Engineers 01.07.2017; Springer Nature B.V; 대한토목학회
• Subjects: Benzene; Chlorine; Civil Engineering; Constants; Distance; Electrodes; Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrocarbons; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Oxidation; Phenanthrene; Photodegradation; Rate constants; Removal; Sodium chloride; Ultraviolet radiation; 토목공학; degradation; water treatment; benzene; phenanthrene; pulsed ultraviolet irradiation
• ISSN: 1226-7988; 1976-3808
• DOI: 10.1007/s12205-016-1817-2

This study examined the comparative degradation of benzene and phenanthrene using a pulsed ultraviolet light (PUV) reactor. The concentration of free chlorine was determined for various NaCl concentrations (0-10 mM) and electrode distances (10, 20, and 40 cm) in order to investigate the effect of oxidation by free chlorine on degradation. It was observed that the presence of NaCl had a dual effect on benzene removal, while phenanthrene removal increased with decreasing NaCl concentration. Both benzene (0.065 min −1 ) and phenanthrene (0.24 min −1 ) pseudo first-order rate constants were highest with a NaCl concentration of 0.25 mM and an electrode distance of 10 cm. The degradation of phenanthrene was much higher than that of benzene due mainly to smaller Dewar’s reactivity values ranging from 1.80 to 2.18 at five different positions for phenanthrene compared to the one position of benzene (2.31), which suggests that phenanthrene is more easily attacked than benzene.