Chemical oxidation of some organic pollutants in pharmaceutical group by sulfate radicals in activated carbon supported catalytic systems

In this thesis, activated carbon-supported catalysts with magnetic properties for heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of certain organic pollutants with different Kow values by persulfate were synthesized from triple biomass mixture by impregnation-pyrolysis with cobalt and iron salts. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by BET-surface area, total pore volume, pore diameter, XRD, VSM, SEM-EDX, Boehm titration and pHzpc analysis. In the presence of each catalyst synthesized, effects of catalyst type and amount, persulfate concentration, contact time, pH and presence of foreign ions on the removal of amoxicillin, acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid, ciprofloxacin, diclofenac, erythromycin, fenoprofen, rifampicin and tetracycline in aqueous media by persulfate activation were investigated. The stability and re-use of the catalyst in which the most efficient removal efficiencies obtained were also investigated under conditions optimized for each molecule. In addition, Fe- and Co-based catalysts were prepared by conventional chemical precipitation method, the same experiments were performed under optimized conditions and the results were compared. Both catalysts synthesized by impregnation-pyrolysis were found to be effective over a wide pH range, effectively mineralize the molecules by persulfate activation, and the reaction occurring was a first order kinetics. Radical quenching experiments showed that sulphate radical was dominant in the mineralization. It was determined that PO43- among the foreign ions caused catalyst deactivation by forming insoluble metal phosphates and other ions affected reaction kinetics by forming radicals with lower-potential. It has been found that the catalysts obtained by chemical precipitation can partially mineralize (40%) each molecule. Therefore; It can be said that it is advantageous to obtain activated carbon supported iron and cobalt based catalysts directly from biomasses by impregnation-pyrolysis method for persulfate activation and to be used for removal of organic pollutants. Keywords: Activated carbon, Supporting material, Catalysts, Degradation, Pharmaceutical removal