What are persulfates?

Persul­fates are perox­ides, like hydro­gen perox­ide and peracetic acid. They can oxidize almost all organic compounds. Persul­fates are often used in ground­wa­ter and soil reme­di­a­tion, but also in other appli­ca­tions. You can read about what persul­fates are, how they are produced and why they are sustain­able here.

Persul­fates (perox­ide sulfates) are salts of perox­y­disul­fu­ric acid, which has the chem­i­cal formula H₂S₂O₈. E. They are color­less and odor­less, have a crys­talline struc­ture and are usually very easily soluble.

There are differ­ent types of persul­fates, each suit­able for differ­ent appli­ca­tions. The best known are potas­sium persul­fate and ammo­nium persulfate.

As very strong bleach­ing and oxidiz­ing agents, persul­fates are used in envi­ron­men­tal appli­ca­tions such as soil and ground­wa­ter reme­di­a­tion, and also in chem­i­cal synthe­ses, elec­tron­ics, and as hair dyes and bleach­ing agents in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and cosmetics.

Their special feature: in terms of their oxidiz­ing power, persul­fates are surpassed only by fluo­rine, ozone and oxyflu­o­rides — they are capa­ble of oxidiz­ing almost all organic compounds. Persul­fates can decom­pose on contact with heat and mois­ture. Evonik Active Oxygens there­fore uses state-of-the-art tech­nol­ogy to ensure that the persul­fates it produces remain stable during stor­age, trans­port and use. When handled correctly, persul­fates have an excel­lent shelf life and are also very econom­i­cal to use, given  their high efficacy.

How are persul­fates produced?

Persul­fates are produced by an elec­trolytic process. Ammo­nium, potas­sium and sodium persul­fates are produced at the plant in Tonawanda, New York. The plant is powered by hydro­elec­tric­ity from nearby Niagara Falls.

Why are persul­fates sustainable?

Persul­fates are versa­tile substances. Acti­vated persul­fates, which have a signif­i­cantly higher oxida­tion effect than alter­na­tive mate­ri­als, are mainly used in soil reme­di­a­tion and the purifi­ca­tion of waste­water and groundwater.

They are effec­tive against a wide range of degra­da­tion-resis­tant cont­a­m­i­nants in a wide vari­ety of site condi­tions, such as indus­trial sites. The aim of reme­di­a­tion using persul­fates is to trans­form these cont­a­m­i­nants into fully oxidized end prod­ucts, such as carbon dioxide.

Persul­fates there­fore ensure that cont­a­m­i­nated soils can be cleaned and reme­di­ated effec­tively and in a resource-saving way — and thus used again.

Depend­ing on the start­ing mate­r­ial, sodium or potas­sium as well as sulfate are formed as degra­da­tion prod­ucts during soil and ground­wa­ter reme­di­a­tion using acti­vated persul­fates. These substances are harm­less from a toxi­co­log­i­cal perspec­tive. Neither is the heavy metal cont­a­m­i­na­tion in the soil increased when persul­fates are used. But this is only one of many applications.

Persul­fates are also useful aids .…

• …in the poly­mer indus­try as effec­tive reac­tion initiators
• …in the elec­tron­ics indus­try when clean­ing printed circuit boards and in labo­ra­to­ries when clean­ing glassware.
• … in paper recy­cling when repro­cess­ing fibrous mate­ri­als (de-inking)
• … in the regen­er­a­tion of bleach­ing baths in the photo­graphic indus­try and there­fore in the care­ful use of resources
• …in the produc­tion of disin­fec­tants and there­fore in health protection.
• …in the recy­cling of valu­able mate­ri­als, for exam­ple lithium from lithium-ion batteries.