The convergence of 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone in the whole process of lignin phenol precursor chlorination.

The formation and decomposition of 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone, an emerging disinfection byproduct (DBP), was studied in the chlorination of lignin phenol precursors. The results show that DCBQ and the related hydroxyl DCBQ (DCBQ-OH) acts as the intermediate products of the chlorination process of the three typical lignin phenol precursors (p-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid, and gallic acid). The contributions of lignin phenol precursors to the overall formation of the targeted DBPs were determined based on the observed abundances of individual lignin phenols and their DBP yields. DCBQ and DCBQ-OH were generated within 2-6 h, the relative abundance of the yields of mol carbon atoms in DCBQ corresponding to the mol carbon atoms in the three model precursors (DCBQ-C) was about 0.01%-14.37% under different pH conditions. With the chlorination reaction time increased (after two or four h), the concentrations of DCBQ and DCBQ-OH entirely decreased, and the decomposition of DCBQ do not follow a pseudo-first-order kinetics during chlorination. Conversely, the decomposition of DCBQ generated from p-hydroxybenzoic acid followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics. Moreover, the formation of trichloromethane (TCM), dichloroacetic acid (DCAA), and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) was also detected during the chlorination. The contribution of the decomposed DCBQ was mainly to TCAA and the unknown DBPs within 2-12 h, and DCBQ decomposition pathway was affected by pH. Moreover, except for DCBQ/DCBQ-OH and TCM/HAAs, there were still 73.6%-92.41% unknown products (including non-halogenated aromatic DBPs and chlorine-substituted DBPs) needing to identify during the chlorination process for lignin phenols. Overall, revealing the formation and decomposition of DCBQ during the chlorination of lignin phenol precursors would contribute to the effective development of drinking water treatment processes for the removal of highly toxic intermediates generated during disinfection.