Potassium ferrate (K<sub>2</sub>FeO<sub>4</sub>, Fe(VI)), a powerful and environmentally friendly oxidizing
agent, is attracting growing attention as an emerging water treatment chemical. This study
reports on recent work examining the effectiveness of Fe(VI) for oxidation of
pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) and inactivation of viral pathogens (surrogate
pathogen: coliphage MS2) during water treatment. Twelve PhACs from representative
compound classes were screened to assess potential reactivity with Fe(VI) on timescales of
interest to water utilities. Eight of the 12 PhACs surveyed, including the antiepileptic drug
carbamazepine and phenolic endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs), were found to have
moderate to high reactivity with Fe(VI). Results also show that Fe(VI) is an effective
disinfectant for MS2 phage. The CT value for 99% inactivation of MS2 is ~2 mg-min L-1 as
Fe at pH 7 and 25 ºC. Both rates of PhAC oxidation and virus inactivation are highly
dependent upon solution pH, increasing with decreasing pH as Fe(VI) speciation shifts
towards more reactive protonated species (HFeO<sub>4</sub><sup>-</sup> and H<sub>2</sub>FeO<sub>4</sub>). Kinetic models that consider
changing speciation of both Fe(VI) and the reacting PhAC or virus, illustrated for the case of
carbamazepine, were developed to account for pH-dependent reactivity trends. Includes 25 references, table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 900 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 8 |
| Published : | 11/01/2008 |
