Hydrothermal electrocatalytic oxidation for the treatment of herbicides wastewater.

A hydrothermal electrocatalytic oxidation (HTECO) method is adopted to treat the biorefractory and toxic 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicides wastewater on nano-Pt/Ti electrode in the existence of H2O2. Comparisons for the removal of 2,4-D and total organic carbon (TOC) have been carried out between HTECO with individual electrochemical oxidation (EO) and hydrothermal catalytic oxidation (HTCO), showing that high mineralization efficiency was obtained in HTECO process. The possible factors resulting in the high removal efficiency in HTECO process have been studied by investigating the properties of the electrode and solution in hydrothermal condition, the amount of active radicals, the decay kinetic, and evolution of main intermediates of 2,4-D. Thus, an enhanced mechanism for HTECO method for the treatment of herbicides wastewater has been obtained.