Assessment of iron chelates efficiency for photo-Fenton at neutral pH

In this study, homogeneous photo-Fenton like at neutral pH was applied to remove sulfamethoxazole from water. The process was performed using different chelating agents in order to solubilize iron in a neutral water solution. The chelating agents tested were: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA); oxalic acid (OA) and tartaric acid (TA). The iron leaching was monitored over reaction time to evaluate the chelates stability and their resistance to HO· and UV-A radiation. Chelates of EDTA and NTA presented more stability than OA and TA, which also confirmed their higher efficiency. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyses were also performed to evaluate the contribution in terms of solution contamination related to the use of chelating agents. The better properties of biodegradability in respect of EDTA combined with better efficiency in terms of microcontaminant removal and the smallest TOC contribution indicate that NTA could represent a useful option to perform photo-Fenton processes at neutral pH.