Pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis

Pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis Qiaoling Xian, Youqiang Liu, Jian Zhou, Xuemin Zhang, Yan Kong This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The treatment of sulfonic acid wastewater poses significant environmental challenges due to its high concentration and non-biodegradable nature. As a typical refractory industrial wastewater, its improper treatment not only causes water pollution but also restricts the reuse of water resources, which is contrary to the goal of improving water conservation. This study focuses on utilizing Fe-C micro-electrolysis for the pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater to improve the removal of persistent organic pollutants. A comprehensive investigation of the factors that impact on COD removal, Fe 3+ concentration, pH and chromaticity, such as influent concentration, pH, aeration volume and reaction time. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate factor interactions and optimize operational parameters for Fe-C micro-electrolysis. The optimal conditions were determined as follows: aeration rate = 16.63 L/min, retention time = 79.37 min, and pH = 1.268, achieving a chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 45.24%. The degradation of sulfonic acid wastewater by Fe-C micro-electrolysis followed second-order reaction kinetics (R²=0.996). Furthermore, Various techniques including FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra showed that the water samples of sulfonic acid mainly contained two kinds of organic matter: methanesulfonic acid and alkylbenzene sulfonic acid. In sulfonic acid wastewater, the degradation of highly unsaturated small-molecule pigment compounds and organic moieties with intramolecular conjugated systems occurred through chain cleavage and ring-opening reactions, leading to the formation of other small molecules and partial dismantling of organic pollutants. This approach significantly reduces the pollution load of sulfonic acid wastewater, thereby creating conditions for subsequent advanced treatment and reuse and contributing to enhanced water conservation measures. Sulfonic Acid Wastewater Ferric-carbon Micro-electrolysis Response Surface Methodology Kinetics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7061277","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":491650658,"identity":"5882ade7-e1b5-4f8b-bdd1-b9d0cdfdca28","order_by":0,"name":"Qiaoling Xian","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lanzhou Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qiaoling","middleName":"","lastName":"Xian","suffix":""},{"id":491650659,"identity":"cae7cee4-fcff-424d-8eda-015198093c4a","order_by":1,"name":"Youqiang Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lanzhou Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Youqiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":491650660,"identity":"ca0f58a6-12aa-481d-925b-8c782b553f4d","order_by":2,"name":"Jian Zhou","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA7UlEQVRIie3RsYrCQBDG8QkLsRGvHRHMK4wEJIXcs+wSsBIRBBEsFAJa2kb0IYSDqxMWtJGrAzZec7Via2HWxHbX8sD9wzbL96sGwGb7j6F6BPBRAaDHT/IqqUc5SV4mKpLPtYl462iHweCz78vKaXiZQ7OWcec60BBns+siUjhsS+CUzsGvZ5w1Yg1h2GvnhIlvCYkiYptxl1U1xC3IVHxFzkyRqZFUCyLFljFQhJOJIHbDAGkvYukCHX6wtTr8Rg0d8eIwPeJtIpaLxR+NRx2vtg/Tq46oWHkbl4ozOTMDyCfnkp6MU5vNZnvL7pUKRY/pqTYxAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Lanzhou Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jian","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":491650661,"identity":"0b9de856-2a28-46c1-9f86-7af073605197","order_by":3,"name":"Xuemin Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lanzhou Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuemin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":491650662,"identity":"20e71794-6854-4a64-a747-44d000ab3aa7","order_by":4,"name":"Yan Kong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lanzhou Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Kong","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-07 04:53:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92820760,"identity":"00cc6b0e-9976-4907-92b8-1007c5ef11b0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-06 01:46:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1145373,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7061277/v1_covered_0ebf9db5-0bcb-49f9-9e2b-d334730b3f33.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sulfonic Acid Wastewater, Ferric-carbon Micro-electrolysis, Response Surface Methodology, Kinetics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe treatment of sulfonic acid wastewater poses significant environmental challenges due to its high concentration and non-biodegradable nature. As a typical refractory industrial wastewater, its improper treatment not only causes water pollution but also restricts the reuse of water resources, which is contrary to the goal of improving water conservation. This study focuses on utilizing Fe-C micro-electrolysis for the pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater to improve the removal of persistent organic pollutants. A comprehensive investigation of the factors that impact on COD removal, Fe\u003csup\u003e3+\u003c/sup\u003e concentration, pH and chromaticity, such as influent concentration, pH, aeration volume and reaction time. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate factor interactions and optimize operational parameters for Fe-C micro-electrolysis. The optimal conditions were determined as follows: aeration rate\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;16.63 L/min, retention time\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;79.37 min, and pH\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.268, achieving a chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 45.24%. The degradation of sulfonic acid wastewater by Fe-C micro-electrolysis followed second-order reaction kinetics (R\u0026sup2;=0.996). Furthermore, Various techniques including FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra showed that the water samples of sulfonic acid mainly contained two kinds of organic matter: methanesulfonic acid and alkylbenzene sulfonic acid. In sulfonic acid wastewater, the degradation of highly unsaturated small-molecule pigment compounds and organic moieties with intramolecular conjugated systems occurred through chain cleavage and ring-opening reactions, leading to the formation of other small molecules and partial dismantling of organic pollutants. This approach significantly reduces the pollution load of sulfonic acid wastewater, thereby creating conditions for subsequent advanced treatment and reuse and contributing to enhanced water conservation measures.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Pretreatment of sulfonic acid wastewater by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-08-13 07:20:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7061277/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ba209008-378b-4b66-99aa-f2acc94ee497","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-15T07:38:44+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-08-13 07:20:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7061277","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7061277","identity":"rs-7061277","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}