Implication for adsorption and degradation of dyes by humic acid: Light driven of environmentally persistent free radicals to activate reactive oxygen species

•The irradiated humic acid produced semiquinone radicals.••OH from humic acid degradation of dyes efficiently.•The degradation rate is negatively correlated with EPFRs concentration.•EPFRs maybe degrade dyes directly. Humic acid (HA) was applied as the biosorbent for the adsorption and degradation of dyes in the presence of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the microstructure of the HA surface and the thermal stability was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Following irradiation, semiquinone EPFRs (g-factor > 2.0045) were generated on the HA surface. Both O2 and the addition of H2O2 were able to promote the generation of hydroxyl and superoxide radicals for the degradation of dye in aqueous solution. Furthermore, adsorption was observed to remove large amounts of the dyes, while the instantaneous free radical degradation process reduced the dyes to the lower concentration. In addition, a linear relationship was observed between the consumption of EPFRs and dye degradation rates. In ternary systems, HA conformed to Langmuir (476.19–1250.12 mg/L) and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. This work offers new insights into HA-EPFRs and their potential applications.