Electrogeneration of H2 for Pd-catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenol in groundwater

A novel electrolytic groundwater remediation process, which used the H2 continuously generated at cathode to achieve in situ catalytic hydrodechlorination, was developed for the treatment of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in groundwater. Catalytic hydrodechlorination using Pd supported on bamboo charcoal and external H2 showed that 2,4-DCP was completely dechlorinated to phenol within 30 min at pH ⩽ 5.5. In a divided electrolytic system, the catalytic hydrodechlorination of 2,4-DCP in cathodic compartment by H2 generated at the cathode under 20 and 50 mA reached 100% at 120 and 60 min, respectively. Two column experiments with influent pHs of 5.5 (unconditioned) and 2 were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of this process. The 2,4-DCP removal efficiencies were about 63% and nearly 100% at influent pHs of 5.5 and 2, respectively. Phenol was solely produced by 2,4-DCP hydrodechlorination, and was subsequently degraded at the anode. A low pH could enhance the hydrodechlorination, but was not necessarily required. This study provides the preliminary results of a novel effective electrolytic process for the remediation of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated aromatics.

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► A novel electrolytic remediation process was developed.
► H2 generated at cathode was used for chlorinates hydrodechlorination.
► 2,4-Dichlorophenol was efficiently hydrodechlorinated to phenol using cathodic H2.
► Hydrodechlorination in both batch and flow-through mode was investigated.