Degradation of bromamine acid by a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst Fe/Mn supported on sepiolite

A heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst, Fe/Mn supported on sepiolite, was proved to be effective in the degradation of bromamine acid aqueous solution. The catalyst was prepared with a complex sol-gel method using sepiolite as a carrier and citric acid as a complexing agent. The prepared catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the results showed that the existence forms of Fe and Mn were -Fe2O3 and MnO and they were distributed evenly on the surface of sepiolite. In the degradation of bromamine acid aqueous solution, the catalyst could possess high catalytic activity when the initial pH of the solution ranged between 3 and 11. In addition, the degradation results showed that there was a synergistic effect between Fe and Mn. The inorganic ions inhibited the degradation efficiency in the early reaction period because of the scavenging effects on (OH)-O-center dot, but the inhibition effect became weaker with the reaction time because of the fixation of metal ions on sepiolite.