Electrochemical oxidation of paracetamol in water by graphite anode: Effect of pH, electrolyte concentration and current density

Publication date: Available online 15 August 2018Source: Journal of Environmental Chemical EngineeringAuthor(s): Selvendiran Periyasamy, Muthukumar MuthuchamyAbstractParacetamol is one of the micropollutant in water and most frequently used drugs as moderate pain reliever. These micropollutants are serious threat to human and environment. In the present investigation, we made attempt to degrade the electrochemical oxidation of paracetamol in water by graphite as anode. Electrooxidation behavior of paracetamol at graphite anode was tested by cyclic voltammetry technique performed in the potential range of -1.0 to +1.0 V versus Ag/AgCl. The optimized conditions were obtained by varying different factors, such as electrolyte concentration (0.02-0.1 M), current density (3.1-7.1 mA/cm2), initial pH (4–8) and paracetamol concentration (20 mg L-1). The results showed that the maximum removal of paracetamol concentration, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) reached>90%,>82 % and>65 % after 240 min electrolysis at an initial pH 4, having paracetamol concentration of 20 mg L-1 at a constant current density of 5.1 mA/cm2 with 0.1 M Na2SO4 supporting electrolyte. Different SO42- concentrations in water promoted the electro generation of strong mediator oxidant species, such as OH, SO4- and S2O82- increasing the removal efficiency of paracetamol. The degradation of paracetamol and its mineralization trend were monitored by UV-vis spectrophotom...
Source: Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research