A novel catalytic route to degrade paracetamol by Fenton process

Abstract

The Fenton’s Oxidation, which is efficient, reliable, eco-friendly and cost-effective over the other advanced oxidation processes, has not been reported for the treatment of paracetamol in water. In the present study, a novel iron catalyst source laterite soil was used to degrade paracetamol in aqueous solutions by Fenton oxidation process. Both FeSO₄.7H₂O and lateritic soil were studied as sources of iron for Fenton’s reagent. Percent Paracetamol reduction and percent Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal were measured as the objective functions to be maximized. Effect of influent pH, influent H₂O₂ concentration, and influent iron concentration on paracetamol degradation efficiencies were investigated by varying influent paracetamol concentration.  At [H₂O₂] : [ Fe²⁺]:: 60:1 and [H₂O₂] : [ Laterite iron]:: 40:1, pH 3 for the 10 mg/L initial concentration of paracetamol and for a reaction time of 60 minutes, the percent paracetamol reduction were 80 and 75 but the percent COD removal were 71 and 63.  By HPLC analysis, 100% removal of paracetamol was observed at the above optimum conditions for both the sources of iron in 240 minutes. The use iron from laterite soil is a cost effective and eco-friendly method over other methods.  The method can be applied in situ to treat the polluted soils and water bodies.