Collaborative Research: Synergistic Actions of Peroxy Acids and Metals for Advanced Water Treatment: Delineating Multi-Oxidant Mechanisms

With support from the Environmental Chemical Sciences Program of the NSF Division of Chemistry, Professors Ching-Hua Huang of Georgia Institute of Technology and Virender Sharma of Texas A&M University will study multi-oxidant systems that involve peroxy acids (POA) and metals, for applications in water treatment. POA, ferrate(VI) and permanganate(VII) are well-recognized oxidants, but each shows some limitations individually.

The project will explore the combination of POA with high valent metal (HVM) or low valent metal (LVM) ions in a multi-oxidant system that can degrade contaminants in water treatment and activate chemical bonds in organic synthesis. This project aims to elucidate the fundamental reaction kinetics and mechanisms to maximize the application potential.

Additionally, this project will enhance education and broaden participation of underrepresented groups. Example activities include teaching and recruiting minority students to participate in research though partnerships with nine minority institutions in Georgia and Texas and teaching K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) teachers.

The interaction of POA with either high-valent metal (HVM) (e.g., ferrate(VI) and permanganate(VII)) or low-valent metal (LVM) (e.g., Fe(II) and Mn(II)) species can significantly enhance the degradation of water contaminants. The generation of POA-based radicals and intermediate high-valent metal oxo species (e.g., Fe(V, IV)=O, Mn(VI, V, IV)=O) likely provides the much enhanced multi-oxidants conditions.

The proposed “POA-Metal” system can enhance (i) the C-H bond activation of hydrocarbons, and (ii) decontamination of water. This project combines complementary laboratory experiments, kinetic modeling, and computational chemistry calculations in an effort to elucidate mechanistic details to achieve catalytic cycling of the metal as well as high efficiency in the organic oxidation.

The new insights into the combined oxidants have the possibility of generating robust catalytic oxidative systems for use in both synthetic chemistry and water treatment.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.