Intensified sonochemical degradation of 2-Picoline in combination with advanced oxidizing agents

2-picoline is a very important pyridine derivative with significant applications though it is also poisonous and harmful having considerable adverse influence on aquatic life, environment and organisms. The need for developing effective treatment methodologies for 2-Picoline directed the current work focusing on degradation of 2-Picoline using the combination of ultrasound and advanced oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), potassium persulphate (KPS), Fenton’s reagent, and Peroxymonosulphate (PMS) along with the use of Titanium oxide (TiO₂) as catalyst. Ultrasonic bath having 8 L capacity and operating frequency of 40 ± 2 kHz has been used. The effect of parameters like power, initial pH, temperature, time and initial concentration of 2-Picoline were studied to establish best operating conditions which were further used in the combination treatment approaches of ultrasound with oxidising agents. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction for the optimized approaches of ultrasound in combination with oxidizing agents was also determined. Degradation experiments were performed using oxidising agents also in absence of ultrasound to investigate the individual treatment capacity of the oxidants and also the synergetic index for the combination. Kinetic study demonstrated that second order model suited for all the treatment approaches except US/Fenton where first order model fitted better. Ultrasound in combination with Fenton reagent demonstrated a substantial synergy for the degradation of 2-Picoline compared to other treatment approaches showing highest degradation of 97.6 %, synergetic index as 5.71, cavitational yield of 1.82 × 10⁻⁵ mg/J and COD removal of 82.4 %.