Treatment of glyphosate contaminated wastewater based on the development of FE doped SBA-15 as advanced catalysts for wet oxidation process under room conditions

Nanostructured solids doped with various iron contents (1, 2.5, 5 and 10 wt%) were developed as efficient catalysts to degrade glyphosate aqueous solutions under extremely mild reaction conditions, atmospheric pressure and room temperature. These materials were characterized by XRD, TEM, N2 physisorption, UVvis-DR and XPS. Regular mesoporous structures typical of SBA-15 solids were obtained and the Fe speciation could be tuned by adjusting the metal nominal loading. The catalysts were evaluated in the glyphosate degradation-fragmentation reaction by catalytic wet oxidation with air, achieving herbicide degradation levels of the order of 80%. A reaction way based on the formation of a highly reactive oxo-iron (V) intermediary from Fe-glyphosate complex was proposed. In this manner, an interesting technology with lower environmental impact and greater sustainability for the remediation of water polluted with glyphosate is presented.