Sono-Photo Fenton Treatment of Liquid Waste Containing Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA)

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is a chelating agent that has been used for decontamination purposes in nuclear industry. The presence of EDTA in decontamination wastes can cause complexation of the cations resulting into interferences in their removal by various treatment processes such as chemical precipitation, ion exchange etc. Further, it might also impart elevated leachability of cationic contaminants from the conditioned wastes immobilized in cement or other matrices and can negatively influence the quality of the final form of waste. In the present study, kinetics of degradation of EDTA (20,000 mg/l) by employing either Photo-Fenton process using UV (15 W λmax = 253.7 nm) or Sono-Fenton process using ultrasound at 130 KHz or simultaneous Sono-Photo Fenton process has been investigated. EDTA is effectively degraded by the synergistic effect of both Photo Fenton and Sono Fenton process. All the above mentioned processes were found to follow a first order kinetics reaction. From the observed pH changes during the oxidation processes, it can be concluded that there is a loss of chelating ability of EDTA. Formation of amides was confirmed during the degradation processes.