State of the art of UV/chlorine advanced oxidation processes: Their mechanism, byproducts formation, process variation, and applications

Abstract

The photolysis of chlorine by ultraviolet radiation (UV/chlorine) produces HO. and Cl., part of which further transforms into reactive chlorine species (RCS) like Cl2.- and ClO.. These radicals are responsible for the advanced oxidation effect of UV/chlorine processes. Recently, UV/chlorine processes gather much attention from researchers and practitioners and published papers on UV/chlorine processes have drastically increased, which were thoroughly reviewed in this paper for understanding the state of the art of these technologies. Fundamental studies elucidate that acidic conditions are favorable to UV/chlorine processes through a change in quantum yield of chlorine photolysis, equilibrium shifts of radical species, and a change in radical scavenger effect of free chlorine. Comparative studies reveal that UV/chlorine processes are usually more energy-efficient than UV/hydrogen peroxide and UV/ persulfate processes. Although unfavorable byproducts formation by RCS reactions is apprehended, application researches in real waters show that UV/chlorine processes do not enhance disinfection byproducts formation very much. Since UV irradiation and chlorination are widely used unit operations, a barrier to install an UV/chlorine process into a conventional process is not high. It is desired to develop and optimize a whole process combined with other unit processes for maximizing benefits in water treatment in the future.