Nitrobenzene degradation by micro-sized iron and electron efficiency evaluation

The effect of pH, temperature, zero-valent iron (ZVI) dosage and reaction duration on nitrobenzene (NB) degradation by micro-sized ZVI was investigated in batch experiments and the electron efficiency (EE) was evaluated at constant pH. The experimental results showed that the reaction rate constant attained 0.616 min(-1), which was far higher than reported in previous studies. The decrease in pH and increase in temperature of the reaction bath promoted the reaction kinetics. ZVI dosage and reaction duration were two key factors affecting NB reduction and EE. A lower ZVI dosage and a slightly longer reaction duration could afford an optimised EE and optimum NB removal. A prolonged reaction or too high a ZVI dosage resulted in increased ZVI waste. (C) 2014 Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences