The attractive efficiency contributed by the in-situ reactivation of ferrous oxalate in heterogeneous Fenton process

Abstract In this study, ferrous oxalate (FeC 2 O 4 ) used as an effective heterogeneous Fenton catalyst, was inexpensively synthesized by a chemical precipitation method. The attractive efficiency was investigated to demonstrate the underlying mechanism of in-situ reactivation. Based on the mechanism, the important issue of effective performance suggested that the reactivation of active sites enhanced the activation of hydroxyl radical( OH) for degradation. In addition, the catalytic performance for industrial application was studied by evaluating the degradation of methylene blue (MB). In the typical process, a degradation efficiency over 94% was observed at 10 min, and it was improved to over 95% at 3 min under irradiation with a xenon lamp. The catalyst has high operational stability and reusability properties in the process. Remarkably, self-activation of the catalyst was observed during the recycling processes.