Hydrogen Peroxide Interference in Chemical Oxygen Demand Assessments of Plasma Treated Waters

Abstract

Plasma-driven advanced oxidation represents a potential technology to safely re-use waters polluted with recalcitrant contaminants by mineralizing organics via reactions with hydroxyl radicals, thus relieving freshwater stress. The process results in some residual hydrogen peroxide, which can interfere with the standard method for assessing contaminant removal. In this work, methylene blue is used as a model contaminant to present a case in which this interference can impact the measured chemical oxygen demand of samples. Next, the magnitude of this interference is investigated by dosing de-ionized water with hydrogen peroxide via dielectric barrier discharge plasma jet and by solution. The chemical oxygen demand increases with increasing concentration of residual hydrogen peroxide. The interference factor should be considered when assessing the effectiveness of plasma to treat various wastewaters.