Review on electrochemical degradation of phenolic compounds

Phenolic compounds are widely present in domestic sewage and industrial sewage and have serious environmental hazards. The electrochemical oxidation (EO) is demonstrated to be one of the most promising methods for the degradation of sewage due to its advantages of high efficiency, environmental compatibility, and safety. In this work, we present an in-depth overview of the mechanism and the factors affecting the degradation of phenolic compounds by EO. In particular, the effects of treating phenolic compounds with different anode materials are discussed in detail. It is found that the non-active anode shows higher degradation efficiency, less intermediate accumulation, and lower energy consumption than the active anode. EO combined other treatment methods (biological, photo, Fenton, etc.) present some advantages, such as low energy consumption and high degradation rate. Meanwhile, the remaining drawbacks of the electrochemical oxidation process as the phenolic compound treatment system have been discussed. Furthermore, to improve the feasibility of the practical application of EO technology, some future research directions are put forward.