Enhanced degradation of naphthalene in persulfate-based systems coupled with calcium sulfite: Elucidation of degradation mechanisms and pathways

Na 2 SO 3 and NaHSO 3 have been widely used as the source of SO 3 2− to participate in the reproduction of Fe(II) in iron-based advanced oxidation processes. In this work, CaSO 3 with low solubility was innovatively introduced and compared with Na 2 SO 3 and NaHSO 3 to investigate their effects on naphthalene (NAP) degradation in Fe(II)-activated peroxydisulfate (PDS) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) processes. The results showed that CaSO 3 displayed a better performance due to its sustained-release of SO 3 2− , and NAP removal increased from 57.6% and 77.7% to 91.4% and 98.5% in PDS/Fe(II) and PMS/Fe(II) processes, respectively, with the addition of CaSO 3 . The enhancement mechanisms of CaSO 3 were illustrated by measuring the variation of iron and SO 3 2− concentrations and by quantitatively determining the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The dominant ROS generated in CaSO 3 -enhanced systems was confirmed by scavenging tests. Moreover, NAP degradation intermediates and pathways, as well as the toxicological properties of intermediates, were accordingly elucidated. Finally, CaSO 3 -enhanced systems had a wide application range of pH, and exhibited a great performance on the tolerance of various water matrixes. The significant removal of various contaminants in CaSO 3 -enhanced processes confirmed that these techniques are suitable for the remediation of organic contaminated groundwater.