UV/H2O2 treatment of methyl tert-butyl ether in contaminated waters

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a pollutant often found in groundwaters c ontaminated by gasoline spills or from leaking underground storage tanks. T he common techniques often used for the remediation of contaminated water a re not very effective for MTBE. This study examines the UV/H2O2 advanced ox idation technology to determine its effectiveness in the treatment of MTBE. The degradation of MTBE was found to follow pseudo-first-order kinetics, a nd hence the figure-of-merit electrical energy per order (EEO) is appropria te for estimating the electrical energy efficiency. The E-EO values were fo und to depend on the concentrations of MTBE, H2O2, and other components, su ch as benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). This study shows that MTBE can b e treated easily and effectively with the UV/H2O2 process with E-EO values between 0.2 and 7.5 kWh/m(3)/order, depending on the initial concentrations of MTBE and H2O2. The treatment efficiency of 10 mg L-1 MTBE is not advers ely affected by the presence of low concentrations of BTX (<2 mg L-1). Howe ver, the degradation efficiency is significantly decreased at BTX levels gr eater than 2 mg L-1. A kinetic model, based on the initial rates of degrada tion, provides good predictions of the EEO values for a variety of conditio ns.