Electrochemical oxidation of the increasingly used disinfectant benzalkonium chloride

Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a key ingredient in many cleaning and disinfectant products due to it being an effective antiviral and biocidal agent. Because of its prolific use, especially following the recent global COVID pandemic, increased levels of BAC have been found in the environment, in particular, in wastewater, where it has negative impacts due to its toxicity. This necessitates an effective treatment for BAC in wastewater to reduce its toxicity. In this work, electrochemical oxidation of BAC on a boron-doped diamond anode was studied to successfully remove BAC. The electrochemical measurements performed at different current densities confirmed that BAC was completely oxidized within 20 min of treatment at 50 mA/cm². However, chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements showed that around 50% of the initial BAC was completely mineralized after 1 h of degradation at 50 mA/cm², while the remaining electrooxidation of BAC resulted in the production of transformation products.