Research on metallic iron for environmental remediation: Stopping growing sloppy science.

Research on using metallic iron (Fe(0)) for environmental remediation has boomed during the passed two decades. Achieved results have established filtration on Fe(0) packed beds as an efficient technology for water treatment at several scales. However, the further development of Fe(0)-based filtration systems is impaired by useless discussion on the mechanism of contaminant removal. However, the whole discussion becomes superfleous while properly considering the difference between a chemical and an electrochemical reaction. This note ends the discussion and suggests practical ways to avoid the further propagation of the mistake.