Atefeh Rahmani - Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Saeid Ahmadzadeh - Pharmaceutics Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Maryam Dolatabadi - Environmental Science and Technology Research Center, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

A 2,4- dichlorophenol (2, 4-DCP) as a member of chlorophenol compounds with high toxicity and persistence in the environment has been introduced as a priority pollutant by the USEPA in the Clean Water Act. Literature survey revealed that, due to carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of chlorophenol compounds on human, its consumption limited to 0.1 μg.L-1 and 0.5 μg.L-1 for individual phenol and total phenols, respectively. Chlorophenol compounds may damage the kidney, liver, pancreas and moreover, cause paralysis of the c ntral nervous system, denaturing of protein, and tissue erosion. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of Electro-Fenton (EF) process forremoving 2, 4-DCP from aqueous solution. Response surface methodology (RSM) under central composite design (CCD) category of Design Expert 7 software was used to achieve efficient removal of 2, 4-DCP. The main objective of CCD method is to optimize the response surface and quantifies the relationship between the controllable input parameters and the obtained response surfaces. The effect of various variables including; current density (1-5 mA.cm- 2), initial 2, 4-DCP concentration (1-10 mg.L-1), H2O2 dosage (20-100 μL), and inter-electrode distance (2-8 cm) were investigated to achieve the best efficient and economical 2, 4-DCP contamination removal condition. The present study focused on the removal of 2, 4-DCP from aqueous solution. The maximum removal rate was achieved at the currentdensity of 3.32 mA.cm-2, initial 2, 4-DCP concentration of 3.25 mg.L-1, pH 3.0, the H2O2 dosage of 80 μL, and interelectrode distance of 5.04 cm. The kinetic investigation best fitted with pseudo-first-order model. The obtained results revealed that in optimized condition, the removal efficiency of 2, 4-DCP was 98.2%. The EF process as an environmentally favorable treatment method was optimized and applied successfully for efficient removal of 2, 4-DCP from environmental aqueous solution.

عدد 2,4- dichlorophenol, Enhanced removal, Electro-Fenton, Aqueous solution, Response surface methodology.