Photonic Efficiency of the Photodegradation of Paracetamol in Water by the Photo-Fenton Process

YAMAL, E.; ORTEGA, C.; GRAELLS, M.; MANSILLA, H.D.; CONTE, L.O.; ALFANO, O.M.; PEREZ-MOYA, M.

Workshop; 7º Encontro sobre Aplicações Ambientais de Processos Oxidativos Avançados, 1º Congresso Iberoamericano de Processos Oxidativos Avançados; 2013

This work is aimed at determining the photonic efficiency of the photodegradation of paracetamol (PCT) by the photo-Fenton treatment as a means to assess its degradation and mineralization performance. Photonic efficiency is determined under different experimental conditions, identifying the influence of the hydrogen peroxide to iron(II) ratio on both contaminant degradation and sample mineralization. The Photo-Fenton process demonstrated to be effective in degrading PCT and a convenient combination of reagent loads showed to yield 80% mineralization. Accordingly, photonic efficiencies of PCT degradation were determined to be higher than the ones of mineralization. In both cases, photonic efficiencies decrease with reaction time and higher efficiencies are possible when suitable reagent doses are supplied.