Real textile wastewater treatment by a sulfate radicals-Advanced Oxidation Process: Peroxydisulfate decomposition using copper oxide (CuO) supported onto activated carbon

[Display omitted] •Activated Carbon@CuO nanoparticles composite was used for PDS activation.•PS/AC@CuO was applied for a real textile wastewater treatment.•PS/AC@CuO removed 61 % TOC, 72 % COD and 95 % color.•AC@CuO was successful in three-time uses for PS activation.•PS/AC@CuO detoxified the textile wastewater. In this work, a simple method was used for the preparation of CuO@activated carbon (AC) composite for peroxydisulfate (PDS) activation to treat a real textile wastewater for the first time. The characteristics of the catalyst were determined by several methods. The performance of various processes was evaluated on total organic carbon (TOC) removal from the textile wastewater. Around 61 % of TOC was eliminated under the conditions of PDS = 7 mM, CuO@AC = 1 g/L, pH = 7 and 60 min reaction time. Other parameters were also studied indicating that 95 % of color, 72 % of COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and 70 % of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) were removed during treatment process. Kinetic studies showed that pseudo-first order was well fitted for color, COD, BOD and TOC removals with obtained rate constants of 0.054, 0.023, 0.021 and 0.018 min−1 respectively. The reusability and stability of CuO@AC catalyst were tested; the results demonstrated that three cycles of catalyst use were acceptable and copper leaching was negligible. Acute toxicity of raw and treated wastewater was also evaluated by Daphnia magna. According to acute toxicity results, PDS/CuO@AC process removed the toxicity of textile wastewater significantly. As a conclusion, PDS/CuO@AC process can be applied for real wastewater treatment and detoxification. This process can be an alternative oxidation process for the degradation of organic pollutants.