Life cycle assessment-guided development of iron-based biomass catalyst for sustainable tetracycline degradation

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a critical tool for evaluating the sustainability of water treatment technologies, but its application to advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) involving functional materials remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by comparing the environmental impacts of two iron-based peroxymonosulfate (PMS) systems for tetracycline (TC) degradation in water. Firstly, the iron-based biomass catalyst (Fe-corn) was prepared by a simple solvent evaporation method, and demonstrated its superior performance over conventional zero-valent iron (nZVI). The Fe-corn/PMS system achieved 94.4 % TC removal within 10 minutes – outperforming nZVI/PMS (88.5 %) – while maintaining efficiency across wide pH ranges (3.0–9.0) and in complex water matrices. Through comprehensive characterization and mechanistic studies, we identified the key factors governing the catalyst’s activity. Most notably, LCA revealed that the Fe-corn/PMS system generated less than half the environmental impact (46 %) of nZVI/PMS per ton of treated wastewater under typical energy conditions. This work provides both a high-performance catalyst and a sustainability framework for evaluating emerging water treatment technologies.