Electrochemical water treatment technologies are highly promising to achieve complete decolorization of dyebath effluents, as demonstrated by several studies reported in the literature. However, these works are focused on the treatment of one model pollutant and generalize the performances of the processes which are not transposable since they depend on the pollutant treated. Thus, in the present study, we evaluate, for the first time, the influence of different functional groups that modify the dye structure on the electrochemical process decolorization performance. The textile azo dyes Reactive Orange 16, Reactive Violet 4, Reactive Red 228, and Reactive Black 5 have been selected because they present the same molecular basis structure with different functional groups. The results demonstrate that the functional groups that reduce the nucleophilicity of the pollutant hinder the electrophilic attack of electrogenerated hydroxyl radical. Thereby, the overall decolorization efficiency is consequently reduced as well as the decolorization rate. Moreover, the presence of an additional chromophore azo bond in the molecule enhances the recalcitrant character of the azo dyes as pollutants. The formation of a larger and more stable conjugated π system increases the activation energy required for the electrophyilic attack of OH, affecting the performance of electrochemical technologies on effluent decolorization.

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Anodic oxidation (AO) approach proceeds via direct and indirect electrochemical pathways and their subsequent reactions. The interest to elucidate the mechanisms for removing dyes from water contributes to the understanding of more complex reactions involving organic pollutants towards anode surfaces. The present study was motivated by the reports that promote the use of AO for removing different organic compounds but no considerations about the influence of different functional groups in their structure have been discussed. Therefore, we have evaluated the influence of different functional groups in the dye structure (Reactive Orange 16, Reactive Violet 4, Reactive Red 228, and Reactive Black 5) by potentiodynamic measurements and by computational analyzes using density functional theory (DFT). The computational studies have allowed to carry out morphological studies on the frontier orbitals where the electrons are more energetic and then, the electron-transfer to electrode surface is achieved, which was associated to the electrochemical measurements (current-potential profiles). Also, the theoretical studies were used to understand the bulk electrolysis, in terms of mineralization. The results clearly demonstrate that organic molecules can be degraded in different way and level due to the oxidants electrochemically generated as well as the interaction of dyes with anode surface by adsorbed/non-adsorbed intermediates. Conversely, the decolorization mechanisms, which are related to the fragmentation of chromophore group, are associated to the direct AO approach, favoring different order of elimination, as already reported in our previous work. The results were discussed in light of the existing literature.

One of the main challenges of electrochemical Fenton-based processes is the treatment of organic pollutants at near-neutral pH. As a potential approach to this problem, this work addresses the use of a low content of soluble chelated metal catalyst, formed between Fe(III) and ethylenediamine-N,N'-disuccinic (EDDS) acid (1:1), to degrade the herbicide triclopyr in 0.050 M Na2SO4 solutions at pH 7.0 by photoelectro-Fenton with UVA light or sunlight (PEF and SPEF, respectively). Comparison with electro-Fenton treatments revealed the crucial role of the photo-Fenton-like reaction, since this promoted the production of soluble Fe(II) that enhanced the pesticide removal. Hydroxyl radicals formed at the anode surface and in the bulk were the main oxidants. A boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode yielded a greater mineralization than an IrO2-based one, at the expense of reduced cost-effectiveness. The effect of catalyst concentration and current density on the performance of PEF with BDD was examined. The PEF trials in 0.25 mM Na2SO4 + 0.35 mM NaCl medium showed a large influence of generated active chlorine as oxidant, being IrO2 more suitable than RuO2 and BDD.In SPEF with BDD, the higher light intensity from solar photons accelerated the removal of the catalyst and triclopyr, with small effect on mineralization. A plausible route for the herbicide degradation by Fe(III)-EDDS-catalyzed PEF and SPEF is finally proposed based on detected byproducts: three heteroaromatic and four linear N-aliphatic compounds, formamide and tartronic and oxamic acids.