Degradation of microcystin-RR in water by chlorine dioxide

Due to the potent hepatotoxicity and tumor-promoting activity of microcystins, a successful removal of these toxins during drinking water treatment processes is of increasing concern. The oxidation kinetics of MC-RR by chlorine dioxide (C1O2)was studied with HPLC and characterization of the reacdon products was performed with UV-spectrometry, TOC and LC-MS. Our experimental results show that the oxidation process is a second order overall and a first order with respect to C1O2 and MC-RR.The activation energy of MC-RR degradation by C1O2 is 53.07 kJ/mol. The rate constant k of the action can be increased by increasing temperature and decreasing pH value and ranged from 6. 11x102 L/(mol.min) to 5.29x 102 L/(mol-min) at pH from 3.44 to 10.41 at 10 ℃. Reaction products were determined to be organic and volatile, because they could be almost removed from aqueous solution by heating for 15 min at 60 ℃. In addition, the main oxidation products have m/z values of 1072 and are identified as dihydroxy isomers of MC-RR.