Integrated soil washing and bioreactor systems for the treatment of hexachlorocyclohexane contaminated soil: A review on enhanced degradation mechanisms, and factors affecting soil washing and bioreactor performances.

Investigations about the remediation of Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), a persistent organic pollutant of global concern, have been extensively reported to treat the HCH contaminated soil. The difficulty arising due to desorption and long ageing procedures of this hydrophobic organic compound in the soil, make it necessary to exploit techniques like soil washing or addition of surfactants, for enhancing the mass transfer rate of hydrophobic compounds. However, this technique gives rise to the generation of a large quantity of waste solution containing the pollutant and various other toxic substances. Moreover, it is challenging to deal with the complex soil washing solution, and thus a follow-up treatment of such washing solution is essentially required before its discharge. This follow-up treatment could be the bioreactor system to efficiently treat the pollutant in the wash solution, thereby reducing the amount of contaminated soil that has to be treated. Among many suggested remediation methods and treatment technologies, integrated soil washing and post-treatment with the bioreactor system could be an environmentally viable method for the remediation of HCH contaminated sites. This review focuses on the soil washing procedures applied so far for the HCH contaminated soil and various factors affecting the efficiency of separation of the target pollutant. Furthermore, the environmental and reactor design-related factors are also discussed for degradation of HCH in the reactor system. Finally, advantages and environmental feasibility of this proposed combined technology and the challenges that need to be encountered are envisaged.

Chelate-modified Electro-Fenton process for mixed industrial wastewater treatment.

HIGHLIGHTS: The Chelate-modified EF process for the removal of COD at near neutral pHTreatment of the mixed industrial wastewater with very low BOD/COD ratioInfluence of Fenton catalyst and chelating agent dosage on COD removal.Comparable COD removal of 67% with Chelate-modified EF at near neutral pH and 66% with EF at acidic pH.Mineralization current efficiency and instantaneous current efficiency for COD removal.

Treatment of real wastewater by photoelectrochemical methods: An overview.

An inadequate and inefficient performance ability of conventional methods to remove persistent organic pollutants urges the need of alternative or complementary advanced wastewater treatments methods to ensure the safer reuse of reclaimed water. Photoelectrochemical methods are emerging as promising options among other advanced oxidation processes because of the higher treatment efficiency achieved due to the synergistic effects of combined photochemical and electrolysis reactions. Synergistic effects of integrated photochemical, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical processes not only increase the hydroxyl radical production; an enhancement on the mineralization ability through various side reactions is also achieved. In this review, fundamental reaction mechanisms of different photoelectrochemical methods including photoelectrocatalysis, photo/solar electro-Fenton, photo anodic oxidation, photoelectroperoxone and photocatalytic fuel cell are discussed. Various integrated photochemical, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical processes and their synergistic effects are elaborated. Different reactor configurations along with the positioning of electrodes, photocatalysts and light source of the individual/combined photoelectrochemical treatment systems are discussed. Modified photoanode and cathode materials used in the photoelectrochemical reactors and their performance ability is presented. Photoelectrochemical treatment of real wastewater such as landfill leachate, oil mill, pharmaceutical, textile, and tannery wastewater are reviewed. Hydrogen production efficiency in the photoelectrochemical process is further elaborated. Cost and energy involved in these processes are briefed, but the applicability of photocatalytic fuel cells to reduce the electrical dependence is also summarised. Finally, the use of photoelectrochemical approaches as an alternative for treating soil washing effluents is currently discussed.

Iron-loaded mangosteen as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst for the treatment of landfill leachate.

Iron-loaded mangosteen shell powder (Fe-MSP) was found as an effective heterogeneous Fenton catalyst for the treatment of stabilized landfill leachate. Sonolytically produced catalyst has higher efficiency than other catalysts. At the optimal conditions (pH 3, catalyst concentration of 1,750 mg/L and hydrogen peroxide concentration of 0.26 M), 81 % of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed effectively from the landfill leachate. But, the efficiency of Fe-MSP was reduced in the first recycling due to the poisoning of active sites. A metal leaching study indicated that the degradation of the pollutant is mainly due to solid Fe ions present in Fe-MSP rather than the leached ferrous and ferric ions. Hydroxyl radical production in the system was confirmed by the Fenton oxidation of benzoic acid. Compared to the homogeneous Fenton process, the heterogeneous Fenton process using Fe-MSP had higher COD removal efficiency, indicating the practical applicability of the prepared catalyst.