Biodegradability improvement of clopyralid wastes through electrolysis using different diamond anodes

Abstract The use of boron-doped (BDDs) anodes for efficient removal of complex organic molecules, such as organochlorine compounds, is well stated in the literature. However, the role of the different characteristics of this anode on the transformation of these type of contaminants into more biodegradable molecules is a topic of interest that need to be clarified when aimed an efficient combination of an electrochemical system as a previous step to biological treatment. In this work, improvement in the biodegradability of synthetic wastes polluted with clopyralid, as an organochlorine model compound, is studied after electrolysis with different BDDs in the presence of the two most common supporting electrolytes (containing sulfate or chloride ions). For that, clopyralid removal, mineralization, aromatics intermediates, short-chain carboxylic acids, and inorganic ions were monitored. Improved results were found in sulfate media for BDD with 200 ppm, capable of removing 88.7 % of contaminants and 85 % of TOC, resulting in an improvement in biodegradability of almost 7-fold compared to the initial sample. These findings point out that lower doping levels are preferable when coupling studied technologies.