The contribution of free radicals in paracetamol degradation by UV/NaCIO

Abstract

UV/Chlorine is an emerging advanced oxidation process which forms several reactive species including *OH, *C1, *OC1. This study investigated the contribution of three main free radicals: *OH, *C1, *OC1 on Paracetamol degradation under different conditions. Benzoic acid (BA), Nitro benzene (NB) and DMOB were used as probe compounds, The second rate constant of *OH, *C1, *OC1 with PRC were determined: 4.19 (±0.15) x 10⁹M⁻¹s⁻¹; 3.71 10¹° M⁻¹s⁻¹; 3.532 x109 M⁻¹s⁻¹, respectively. The formation of free radicals depends on pH. In particular, at pH 5: the contribution of *OH and (*OC1, *C1) are 45 %, 41 %, respectively, at pH 8.5, the contribution of free radicals increases up to 63 %.