Treatment of Organic Compounds by Activated Persulfate Using Nanoscale Zerovalent Iron

Recently, persulfate has caught the attention of groundwater remediation practitioners as a promising oxidant for in situ chemical oxidation. In this study, a method was applied to treat a selection of hazardous organic compounds using nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) particles as activators for persulfate. The results show that degradation of these organic compounds using nZVI-activated persulfate is more effective than nZVI alone. For example, the degradation of naphthalene by nZVI-activated persulfate was >99% compared to <10% by nZVI alone. Despite the higher effectiveness, the nZVI particles were passivated quickly following exposure to persulfate, causing the reaction rate to reduce to a magnitude representative of an unactivated persulfate system. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicated that an iron sulfate layer was formed on the nZVI particle surfaces following exposure to persulfate compared to the FeOOH layer that was present on the fresh nZVI surfaces. Although the nZVI particle surfaces are passivated, nZVI appears to be a promising persulfate activator compared to the conventional persulfate activators such as Fe2+ and granular ZVI.