In this study, a series of porous carbon catalysts (OALx-T) were prepared by high-temperature pyrolysis of alkaline lignin using oxalic acid as a mild activator. Among them, OAL 1 -650 performed best in activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade SMX, achieving a removal rate exceeding 90% within 10 minutes and a mineralization rate of 79.8%. Systematic characterization revealed that oxalic acid activation significantly increased the specific surface area and pore structure of the material and introduced abundant C=O functional groups, which were confirmed to be key active sites for PMS activation to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Free radical quenching experiments confirmed that linear oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) and superoxide radicals (O 2 •– ) were the primary active species responsible for SMX degradation.
Green Chemical Engineering
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.