Direct Chemical Oxidation of Hazardous Organic Wastes in Industrial Waste Streams with Activated Persulfate

Direct Chemical Oxidation (DCO) is an aqueous-based oxidation technology for destruction of hazardous organic components in industrial waste streams. This technology can oxidize and destroy most liquid or solid organic compounds, including: chlorinated solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, oils and grease, detergents, explosives, chemical and biological warfare agents, MTBE, PCBs and PAHs (Balazs et al., 1998; Block et al., 2004).At the onset of the chemical oxidation technology, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), potassium permanganate (KMnO4), and Ozone (O3) were utilized as oxidants. Cuypers et al. (2000) used persulfate oxidation to determine the PAH bioavailability in soils and sediments. In recent years, persulfate has emerged as an effective oxidant for chemical oxidation of a wide range of contaminants including chlorinated solvents, BTEX, MTBE, PCBs and PAHs (Block et al.,2004; ITRC, 2005; Liang and Bruell; 2008, Hamberg, 2009; Li et al., 2009; Waldemer et al.,2007). The reduction of persulfate anions leads to the production of sulfate anions (Liang and Bruell, 2008).