Effect of inorganic and organic solutes on zero-valent aluminum-activated hydrogen peroxide and persulfate oxidation of bisphenol A

The effect of varying inorganic (chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and phosphate) and organic (represented by humic acid) solutes on the removal of aqueous micropollutant bisphenol A (BPA; 8.8 μM; 2 mg/L) with the oxidizing agents hydrogen peroxide (HP; 0.25 mM) and persulfate (PS; 0.25 mM) activated using zero-valent aluminum (ZVA) nanoparticles (1 g/L) was investigated at a pH of 3. In the absence of the solutes, the PS/ZVA treatment system was superior to the HP/ZVA system in terms of BPA removal rates and kinetics. Further, the HP/ZVA process was not affected by nitrate (50 mg/L) addition, whereas chloride (250 mg/L) exhibited no effect on the PS/ZVA process. The negative effect of inorganic anions on BPA removal generally speaking increased with increasing charge in the following order: NO₃⁻ (no inhibition) < Cl⁻ (250 mg/L) = SO₄²⁻ < PO₄³⁻ for HP/ZVA and Cl⁻ (250 mg/L; no inhibition) < NO₃⁻ < SO₄²⁻ < PO₄³⁻ for PS/ZVA. Upon addition of 20 mg/L humic acid representing natural organic matter, BPA removals decreased from 72 and 100% in the absence of solutes to 24 and 57% for HP/ZVA and PS/ZVA treatments, respectively. The solute mixture containing all inorganic and organic solutes together partly suppressed the inhibitory effects of phosphate and humic acid on BPA removals decreasing to 46 and 43% after HP/ZVA and PS/ZVA treatments, respectively. Dissolved organic carbon removals were obtained in the range of 30 and 47% (the HP/ZVA process), as well as 47 and 57% (the PS/ZVA process) for the experiments in the presence of 20 mg/L humic acid and solute mixture, respectively. The relative Vibrio fischeri photoluminescence inhibition decreased particularly for the PS/ZVA treatment system, which exhibited a higher treatment performance than the HP/ZVA treatment system.