Micropollutant Degradation by the UV/H2O2 Process: Kinetic Comparison among Various Radiation Sources

Kinetic comparisons of micropollutant degradation by ultraviolet (UV) based advanced oxidation processes among various radiation sources are an important issue, yet this is still a challenge at present. This study investigated comparatively the kinetics of sulfamethazine (SMN) degradation by the UV/H2O2 process among three representative radiation sources, including low-pressure mercury UV (LPUV, monochromatic), medium-pressure mercury UV (MPUV, polychromatic), and vacuum UV(VUV)/UV (dual wavelengths causing different reaction mechanisms) lamps. Experiments were conducted with a newly developed mini-fluidic MPUV photoreaction system and a previously developed mini-fluidic VUV/UV photoreaction system. Measured and modeled results both indicate that the photon fluence-based SMN degradation rate constant (k(p)') followed a descending order of VUV/UV/H2O2 > MPUV/H2O2 (200-300 nm) > LPUV/H2O2, and the k(p)' of the MPUV lamp was dependent on the wavelength range selected for photon fluence calculation. Analysis of potential errors revealed that a shorter effective path-length could have a lower error, and the maximum errors for the MPUV/H2O2 and LPUV/H2O2 processes in this study were 7.7% and 18.2%, respectively. This study has developed a new method for kinetic comparisons of micropollutant degradation by UV-AOPs among various radiation sources at bench-scale, which provides useful reference to practical applications.