Prof. İdil ARSLAN ALATON
İstanbul Technical University, TURKIYE
Department of Environmental Engineering
Idil Arslan-Alaton has a B.Sc. degree from Istanbul Technical University in Chemical Engineering (1995) and a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Technology, from Bogazici University, Institute of Environmental Sciences (1997). She has completed her Ph.D. in Environmental Technology at Bogazici University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, in the year 2000. During her Ph.D. studies, she was a visiting researcher at Tampere University of Technology, Finland, in 1998, and at the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1999. She did her post-doctoral research at Berlin Technical University, Institute of Environmental Technology, Water Quality Control Department, Germany, in 2000, and at the University of South Carolina, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Graduate Science Research Center, Columbia, U.S.A. in 2001. She is currently a Full Professor at the Environmental Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University (School of Civl Engineering). Idil Arslan-Alaton is a member of the Science Academy, Turkey, the International Water Association (IWA) and the Society and Dyers and Colourists (SDC).
The Use of "Green Oxidants" in Advanced Oxidation Processes
İdil ARSLAN ALATON
Istanbul Technical University, School of Civi Engineering,
Department of Environmental Engineering, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey.
E-mail: arslanid@itu.edu.tr
In the last three decades, there has been a growing interest in advanced treatment methods for the effective removal of toxic, refractory and/or hazardous contaminants found in water and wastewater including so-called “Advanced Oxidation Processes” (AOPs). More recently, peroxides have been used as “green” oxidants, since their activation and combination does typically not form harmful degradation intermediates/oxidation products. Among these, hydrogen peroxide (HP), peroxydisulfate (PDS), peroxymonosulfate (PMS), peracetic acid (PAA) and percarbonate (PC) are mostly employed and can be easily activated with ozone, short ultraviolet (UV-C) light radiation, transition metal oxides/metal ions as well as power ultrasound to form reactive oxygen species (ROS; free radicals) that almost non-selectively react with a variety of pollutants at mass transfer-limited rates. As a consequence of their use in water/wastewater treatment processes, more polar, biodegradable and/or less toxic degradation/oxidation products can be formed. Currently, their major application range as that of many other AOPs is the removal of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including micropollutants (pharmaceuticals, organic textile dyes, explosives, nuclear wastes, flame retardants, volatle organic compounds (VOC’s), stabilizers, pesticides, metolloids, polyphenols, surfactants, etc.).
Considering the immense body of scientific literature devoted to peroxide activation methods and treatment applications, the presentation will cover basic principles of peroxide-based AOPs, peroxide activation methods, the benefits of their use, and the acute/chronic toxicity assessment of peroxide-activated treatment systems (peroxides and oxidation products). Moreover, some case studies and treatment examples will be given from the related scientific literature as well as our own work.
However, the main focus of the presentation would be on shortcomings and challenging issues related with the use of peroxides in AOPs. For example, the various benefits of using green oxidants in environmental remediation applications could easily be overshadowed by the fact that most peroxides are potentially toxic towards the test organisms used in common bioassays. The question is; are these green oxidants really environmentally friendly? How realistic, feasible and ultimately “sustainable” would be the integration of peroxide activation systems with prevailing water and sewage treatment plants? Obviously, there are some less known aspects to be unleashed about the use of green oxidants (peroxides) for AOPs.
