A Novel Fe3O4-Coated Activated Carbon Catalyst for Drinking Water Disinfection and Toxic Disinfection Byproduct Control

Traditional drinking water disinfectants such as chlorine not only deactivate pathogenic microorganisms in source water but also react with dissolved organic matter (DOM) from natural and anthropogenic sources, leading to the formation of numerous toxic halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs). The strong oxidants generated through catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by iron oxide (Fe3O4) are proposed to reduce dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a DBP precursor, as well as to disinfect pathogens in drinking water treatment. This study aims to synthesize a novel Fe3O4-coated granular activated carbon (GAC) catalyst enabling simultaneous removal of DOC in water, mitigation of the formation of toxic halogenated DBPs such as trihalomethanes (THMs), and disinfection of waterborne pathogens. The experimental results demonstrated that synthesized Fe3O4-GAC enables us to effectively catalyze the rapid decomposition of H2O2 (7 times faster than Fe3O4 alone), reduce DOC (53%), limit THM formation (below the detection limit), and inactivate E. coli (>99.9%) in water. This research demonstrates that Fe3O4-GAC has high potential to be used as a green, cost-effective catalyst for drinking water treatment.