Degradation of 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) Using Fenton, UV Light Irradiation and Photo-Fenton

As one of the most commonly employed UV-filters, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) has been shown to accumulate in the environment and have endocrine disrupting activity. 4-MBC cannot be degraded completely by common methods in wastewater treatment plants. To prevent the environmental problems caused by 4-MBC from being more serious, finding effective method to degrade 4-MBC is essential. In this research, Fenton reaction and photo-Fenton was employed to degrade the 4-MBC. Orthogonal experimental design was employed to evaluate the influence of factors (Fe2+, H2O2, pH and reaction time) on the degradation of 4-MBC. The degradation rate reached to 66.01% in Fenton process and 96.71% in photo-Fenton process. UV light irradiation was also employed to degrade 4-MBC. After being irradiated by mercury lamp (300W) 90 min, the concentration of the 4-MBC reduced 85.4%, but most of them translated to the isomeride. Compared with the Fenton, photo-Fenton and UV light irradiation processes, we deduces that photo-Fenton can get the better degradation efficiency of 4-MBC, and, Fenton reagents and light irradiation are synergistic.