Electro-oxidation of 2-chlorophenol with BDD electrodes in a continuous flow electrochemical reactor

Synthetic solutions of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP, 1 mM) were treated in an undivided continuous flow electrochemical reactor equipped with boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. The process was conducted at different current densities (j = 0.10, 0.125, and 0.14 A cm−2), initial pH (4.0, 7.3, and 9.0), and volumetric flow rate (Q = 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 L min−1). The results of this study showed that the best operational conditions were: j = 0.14 A cm−2, pH = 7.3, and y Q = 1 L min−1. Under these operational conditions the degradation and mineralization of 2-CP were, 100% and 96%, respectively, after 6 h of electrolysis time. The by-products were identified by UHPLC. Also, it was found that the electrochemical degradation of 2-chlorophenol follows a pseudo-first order kinetics. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that the electrolysis process employed in this work allows high percentages (96%) of mineralization of 2-CP, a relative low treatment cost ($ 3 MXN/ 2.5 L of synthetic solution), and that the process is applicable to remediate wastewater.