Activation of Persulfate by Green Synthesis of Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles (Nzvi) Using Pomegranate Peel Extract and Their Efficient Application for Removal of Furfural From Aqueous Solutions: The Synergistic Effect and Reaction Kinetic Study Publisher



Rashtbari Y ; Dastjerdi N ; Salimifard A ; Hamzezadeh A ; Afshin S ; Poureshgh Y ; Asl FB ; Abdoallahzadeh H
Source: Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Published:2026

Abstract

Furfural is one of the substances that has various applications in different industries, and therefore, there is a possibility of its entry into the environment through industrial wastewater discharge. This study was conducted to remove furfural from synthetic aqueous solutions through the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) using persulfate (PS) as the oxidizing agent. In this experiment, zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were used to activate PS and generate sulfate radicals. Additionally, to obtain the properties of nZVI, FE-SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis were conducted on them. A spectrophotometer establish at a wavelength of 277 nm, was used to measure the absorption of furfural. The best values for pH, nZVI, PS, initial concentration of furfural and contact time were determined to be 3, 0.1 g/L, 0.1 g/L, 20 mg/L and 75 min, respectively. The synergistic effect of combining nZVI with PS has been determined to be 94.5%. The kinetics of furfural oxidation followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic model (R2: 0.9636) and the percentage of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was found to be 76% under optimum conditions. Based on the results of the studies, it is possible to achieve high furfural removal efficiencies from aqueous solutions by applying the advanced oxidation process in which persulfate acts as the oxidation agent and nZVI acts as the persulfate activator. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026.