Synergistic effect of ferrate with various water processing techniques—a review

The use of ferrate has been demonstrated as a highly efficient technique for the removal of pollutants in water and wastewater treatment. While most of the published work about ferrate investigated the treatment performance by ferrate alone, new applications of ferrate expand to the synergistic application of ferrate with other techniques such as membrane separation, sulphur-based chemical use, UV radiation, ozonation, acidification, and other chemical additives. This paper aims to review and explore the treatment performance and reaction mechanisms associated with synergistic applications of ferrate. The main objective of this study is to conduct case studies on the synergistic application of ferrate with other water processes. It was found that the efficiency of water treatment increased significantly by the synergistic application of ferrate, and this is attributed to the alleviation of membrane fouling, the activating the formation of more radical oxidative species, enhanced coagulation, and the potential improvement of micropollutants’ biodegradability. Therefore, the stated ferrate technology holds high potential for improving the efficiency of water treatment and other environmental remediation processes. Further studies are required to explore a more feasible combination of ferrate with other techniques and expand the understanding of the working mechanisms of the known synergistic applications of ferrate.