Plenary Lecture
Solar Photoelectro-Fenton: A Very Efficient and Low Cost Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Process for Water Remediation
Professor Enric Brillas
Department of Physical Chemistry
Universitat de Barcelona
SPAIN
E-mail: brillas@ub.edu
Abstract: This lecture reviews the characteristics of the solar photoelectro-Fenton process and the main results obtained in our facilities upon its application at laboratory and small pilot plant scale for the degradation of environmentally-relevant organic pollutants usually found in waters. This electrochemical advanced oxidation process is based on the removal of organic matter by •OH formed from (i) water oxidation at the anode and (ii) in the bulk from Fenton’s reaction between H2O2 generated at the cathode and added Fe2+, along with the synergistic action of UV radiation from sunlight that photolyzes generated Fe(III)-carboxylate complexes. The mineralization of several herbicides, pharmaceutical residues and dyes in different electrolytic systems is examined using both, small tank reactors directly exposed to sunlight and pre-pilot flow plants with a filter-press electrochemical reactor coupled to a tilted planar glass compartment or a compound parabolic collector as solar photoreactors. Comparative results obtained with cells equipped with Pt and boron-doped diamond anodes, alone or coupled, and a carbon-polytetrafluoroethylene gas (O2 or air) diffusion cathode, are presented. It is demonstrated that solar photoelectro-Fenton has greater mineralization current efficiency and is much less expensive than other electrochemical advanced oxidation processes like anodic oxidation, electro-Fenton and photoelectro-Fenton with artificial UVA light tested with the same electrodes. The efficacy of the treatments is discussed for several model contaminants in terms of: (i) the abatement of the total organic load of aqueous solutions, (ii) the decay kinetics of contaminants and (iii) the evolution of their aromatic intermediates, generated carboxylic acids and final inorganic ions released, which leads to the proposal of the most plausible reaction pathways.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Enric Brillas was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1951. He obtained his BS degree in Chemistry in 1974 and received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 1977 from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In 1980, he joined the Universitat de Barcelona as Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry. In 1982, he completed his studies in electrochemistry at the Università di Padova, Italy, in the field of organic electrochemistry. From 1987 to present, he has worked as Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Universitat de Barcelona. He was Headmaster of the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Universitat de Barcelona from 2000 to 2008. He was President of the Electrochemistry Group of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry from 2004 to 2008. Currently, he is Director of the Laboratory of Electrochemistry of Materials and Environment at the Universitat de Barcelona. His research mainly focuses on organic electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, chemical catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and electrochemical treatment of organic pollutants. In the latter field, he has developed several novel electrochemical advanced oxidation processes such as electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton with UV light and solar photoelectro-Fenton. In 1995, he received the International Chemviron Carbon Award for his initial research on electro-Fenton degradation of organics with a gas diffusion electrode. Since 2008, he has been Associate Editor of the journal Chemosphere of Elsevier. He has supervised the doctoral theses of 16 Ph.D. students, published more than 250 ISI papers, six books and ten book chapters, and presented 190 contributions, including more than 20 invited conferences, to scientific national and international congresses.