Efficacious degradation of ethylene glycol by ultraviolet activated persulphate: reaction kinetics, transformation mechanisms, energy demand, and toxicity assessment

Ethylene glycol or 1,2-ethanediol (EG) is a persistent and toxic substance in the environment and extensively applied in petrochemical, surfactants, antifreeze, asphalt emulsion paints, cosmetics, plastics, and polyester fiber industries. Degradation of EG by using ultraviolet (UV) activated hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and persulfate (PS) or persulfate anion (S 2 O 8 2− ) based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were explored. The result obtained demonstrate that UV/PS (85.7 ± 2.5%) has exhibited improved degradation efficiency of EG as compared to UV/H 2 O 2 (40.4 ± 3.2%) at optimal operating conditions of 24 mM of EG concentration, 5 mM of H 2 O 2 , 5 mM of PS, 1.02 mW cm −2 of UV fluence, and pH of 7.0. Impacts of operating factors, including initial EG concentration, oxidant dosage, reaction duration, and the impact of different water quality parameters, were also explored in this present investigation. The degradation of EG in Milli-Q® water followed pseudo − first order reaction kinetics in both methods having a rate constant of about 0.070 min −1 and 0.243 min −1 for UV/H 2 O 2 and UV/PS, respectively, at optimum operating conditions. Additionally, an economic assessment was also conducted under optimal experimental conditions, and the electrical energy per order and total operational cost for treating per m 3 of EG-laden wastewater was observed to be about 0.042 kWh m −3 order −1 and 0.221 $ m −3 order −1 , respectively, for UV/PS, which was slightly lower than UV/H 2 O 2 (0.146 kWh m −3 order −1 ; 0.233 $ m −3 order −1 ). The potential degradation mechanisms were proposed based on intermediate by-products detected by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Moreover, real petrochemical effluent containing EG was also treated by UV/PS, demonstrating 74.7 ± 3.8% of EG and 40.7 ± 2.6% of total organic carbon removal at 5 mM of PS and 1.02 mW cm −2 of UV fluence. A toxicity tests on Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Vigna radiata (green gram) confirmed non-toxic nature of UV/PS treated water. Graphical abstract