Gamma irradiation of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole aqueous solution in the presence of persulfate.

Recently, water treatment by ionizing radiation has gained increasing attention as a powerful technology for the destruction of refractory pollutants. 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) is known as a widespread, toxic and poorly biodegradable pollutant. This paper studied the gamma irradiation of aqueous solutions of MBT. Moreover, the effect of the addition of persulfate (S2O8(2-)) on the radiolytic destruction of MBT was investigated. The main transformation products of the studied compound were detected and the sequence of occurrence of the products was described. The change of biodegradability of MBT solution was also observed. The main results obtained in this study indicated that gamma radiation was effective for removing MBT in aqueous solution. Persulfate addition, which induced the formation of reactive sulfate radicals (SO4(-)), greatly enhanced the degradation of MBT. Benzothiazole was identified as the first radiation product, followed by 2-hydroxybenzothiazole. Decomposition of MBT started with the oxidation of -SH groups to sulfate ions. Possible pathways for MBT decomposition by gamma irradiation were proposed. The BOD/COD ratios of MBT samples were increased after radiation, indicating the improvement of biodegradability and reduction of toxicity.