Adsorption-enforced Fenton-like process using activated carbon-supported iron oxychloride catalyst for wet scrubbing of airborne dichloroethane.

Wet scrubbing is a low-cost process for disposing of air pollutants. Nevertheless, this method is rarely used for the treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) because of their poor water solubility. In this study, we used a unique wet scrubbing system containing H ₂ O ₂ and activated carbon (AC)-supported iron oxychloride (FeOCl) nanoparticles to remove airborne dichloroethane (DCE). The operating conditions of the wet scrubber were optimized, and the mechanism was explored. The results showed that the adsorption of dissolved DCE onto AC promoted its transfer from air to water, while the accumulation of DCE on AC facilitated its oxidation by •OH generated on FeOCl catalyst. The wet scrubber performed well at pH 3 and low H ₂ O ₂ concentrations. By pulsed or continuous dosing H ₂ O ₂ , the cooperative adsorption-catalytic oxidation allowed long-term DCE removal from air. Benefiting from satisfactory cost-effectiveness, avoidance of toxic byproduct formation, and less corrosion and catalyst poisoning, wet scrubbers coupled with cooperative adsorption and heterogeneous advanced oxidation processes could have broad application potentials in VOC control.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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