Highly efficient persulfate catalyst prepared from modified electrolytic manganese residues coupled with biochar for the roxarsone removal

The contamination of organoarsenic is becoming increasingly prominent while SR-AOPs were confirmed to be valid for their remediation. This study has found that the novel metal/carbon catalyst (Fe/C–Mn) prepared by solid waste with hierarchical pores could simultaneously degrade roxarsone (ROX) and remove As(V). A total of 95.6% of ROX (20 mg/L) could be removed at the concentration of 1.0 g/L of catalyst and 0.4 g/L of oxidant in the Fe/C–Mn/PMS system within 90 min. The scavenging experiment and electrochemical test revealed that both single-electron and two-electron pathways contributed to the ROX decomposition. Spectroscopic analysis suggested the ROX has been successfully mineralized while As(V) was fixed with the surface Fe and Mn. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation and chromatographic analysis indicated that the As7, N8, O9 and O10 sites of ROX molecule were vulnerable to being attacked by nucleophilic, electrophilic and radical, resulting in the formation of several intermediates such as phenolic compounds . Additionally, the low metal leaching concentration during recycling and high anti-interference ability in various water matrices manifested the practicability of Fe/C–Mn/PMS system.