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DEGRADATION OF MTBE INTERMEDIATES USING FENTON'S REAGENT
Citation:
Burbano, A. A., D. D. Dionysiou, T L. Richardson*, AND M. T. Suidan. DEGRADATION OF MTBE INTERMEDIATES USING FENTON'S REAGENT. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 128(9):799-805, (2002).
Description:
In a previous study, the chemical oxidation of MTBE at low concentrations in water using the Fenton's reagent (FR) was investigated. At certain reaction conditions the process achieved 99.99% degradation of MTBE but it did not result in complete MTBE mineralization. In the present study the major intermediate byproducts generated during the reaction such as tert-butyl formate (TBF), tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) methyl acetate, and acetone were separately used as parent contaminants and treated under the same reaction conditions initially used for MTBE (i.e. pH of the water, molar ratio of pollutant: FR) in order to compare their degradability by hydroxyl radicals generated from the Fenton's reaction. The results were compatible with the second order reaction rate constants for the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with each contaminant, commonly available in the literature. The comparison of the degradation kinetics for each intermediate byproduct provided information that aims at unveiling the limiting step(s) of the entire MTBE degradation pathway. In this context, it was found that TBA was generated by reactions subsequent to those that produced TBF, acetone was originated by at least three independent pathways involving direct hydroxyl radical attack to MTBE, TBF and TBA, while methyl acetate was formed exclusively from MTBE.