Degradation of Tribromophenol by Wood-Decaying Fungi and the 1,2-Dihydroxybenzene-Assisted Fenton Reaction

The degradation of 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP) by biological and chemical treatments was studied. Biological treatment involved the use of Laetoporeus sulfureus, Gloephyllum trabeum, and Ganoderma australe in liquid culture. Despite the inhibitory effects of TBP on the fungal growth, these fungi were able to degrade TBP after 15 days of biotreatment. At 66, 116, and 183 μ M TBP, the degradation by G. australe was the most efficient (71% to 77%), whereas G. trabeum and L. sulfureus degraded between 50% and 60% of three TBP concentrations. The removal of organic bromine reached values of 50% in all cases. The chemical treatment (1,2-dihydroxybenzene-assisted Fenton reaction) achieved up to 90% of TBP degradation. However, only 40% of TBP was mineralized and the toxicity level did not undergo changes during the chemical treatment. On the other hand, a 30% reduction in toxicity was obtained with a combined chemical-biological treatment.     

Investigation on the interaction between dihydroxybenzene and Fe3+- H2O2-Rh6G system based on enhancing chemiluminescence.

A highly sensitive flow-injection chemiluminescence (FI-CL) method has been developed for the determination of dihydroxybenzene, based on the hydroxyl radical reaction. Hydroxyl radical (.OH) produced by the reaction of Fe(3+) and H(2)O(2) oxidize rhodamine 6G to produce weak CL. It was observed that catechol and hydroquinone greatly enhanced the weak CL reaction. However, the proposed CL system is not suitable for determination of resorcinol because the enhancement reaction is very slow. The proposed procedure has a linear range of 0.01-2 mg/L for catechol, with a detection limit of 0.006 mg/L, and 0.008-1 mg/L for hydroquinone, with a detection limit of 0.004 mg/L. The possible mechanism of the CL system is discussed.