Abatement of Aromatic Contaminants from Wastewater by a Heat/Persulfate Process Based on a Polymerization Mechanism

A novel approach to the abatement of pollutants consisting of their conversion to separable solid polymers is explored by a heat/persulfate (PDS) process for the treatment of high-temperature wastewaters. During this process, a simultaneous decontamination and carbon recovery can be achieved with minimal use of PDS, which is significantly different from conventional degradation processes. The feasibility of this process is demonstrated by eight kinds of typical organic pollutants and by a real coking wastewater. For the treatment of the selected pollutants, 30.2-91.9% DOC abatement was achieved with 24.8-91.2% carbon recovery; meanwhile, only 5.2-47.0% of PDS was consumed compared to a conventional degradation process. For the treatment of a real coking wastewater, 71.0% DOC abatement was achieved with 66.0% carbon recovery. With phenol as a representative compound, our polymerization-based heat/PDS process is applicable in a wide pH range (3.5-9.0) with a carbon recovery of >87%. Both SO₄^•- and HO^• can be initiators for polymerization, with different contribution ratios under various conditions. Phenol monomers are semioxidized to form phenolic radicals, which are polymerized via chain transfer or chain growth processes to form separable solid phenol polymers, benzenediol polymers, and cross-linked polymers.