Sodium persulfate-assisted mechanochemical degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A: Efficacy, products and pathway

In recent years, activated persulfate (PS) oxidation has been developed as a new advanced oxidation process for the degradation of organic pollutants. On the other hand, the mechanochemical method has exhibited a unique advantage in dealing with chemical wastes. The degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), a widely used brominated flame retardant (BFR), in wastes has attracted considerable attention. In this study, the efficacy of a CaO-mechanochemical (CaO-MC) treatment system assisted by the addition of PS for the degradation of TBBPA was investigated. Under the optimum reaction conditions with a mole ratio of PS:CaO = 1:4 and less than 12.5% of TBBPA by mass, the degradation and debromination of TBBPA were completed within 2 h, while the mineralization was completed within 4 h. Characterization of the milled sample by XRD revealed that CaSO4 crystallization occurred. The TG results illustrate that there was little organic matter left after 4 h of milling. Raman and FT-IR spectra exhibited the TBBPA destruction process and disappearance of the organic groups. Through analysis by LC/MS/MS, seventeen intermediates were identified. The mechanism of TBBPA degradation by the PS-assisted CaO-MC treatment system was explained from two aspects, the course of crystallization and the degradation of TBBPA by activated PS, and two parallel initiation pathways were proposed.