{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T18:15:23Z","timestamp":1780337723726,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,23]],"date-time":"2025-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1737590400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["22206085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22206085"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["ZHJJ202304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZHJJ202304"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["BWPU2023KF02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BWPU2023KF02"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Hubei Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Processing and Environment (Wuhan University of Technology)","award":["22206085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22206085"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Hubei Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Processing and Environment (Wuhan University of Technology)","award":["ZHJJ202304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZHJJ202304"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Hubei Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Processing and Environment (Wuhan University of Technology)","award":["BWPU2023KF02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BWPU2023KF02"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Engineering Research Center of Biofilm Water Purification and Utilization Technology of Ministry of Education","award":["22206085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22206085"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Engineering Research Center of Biofilm Water Purification and Utilization Technology of Ministry of Education","award":["ZHJJ202304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZHJJ202304"]}]},{"name":"Open Project of Engineering Research Center of Biofilm Water Purification and Utilization Technology of Ministry of Education","award":["BWPU2023KF02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BWPU2023KF02"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Currently, iron-catalyzed low-valent sulfur species processes are regarded as potentially valuable advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in wastewater treatment. As a commonly used low-valent sulfur species in the food industry, metabisulfite (MBS) can undergo decomposition to bisulfite when dissolved in water. Therefore, the combination of MBS with dissolved Fe(III) at environmentally relevant concentrations is proposed in this study to accelerate organic contaminants degradation while simultaneously minimizing the production of iron sludge. The results show that the Fe(III)\/MBS process could degrade various organic contaminants, including acid orange 7 (AO7), and the removal efficiency of AO7 obeyed the pseudo-first-order kinetic. The rate constant values exhibited variations depending on the initial concentrations of Fe(III) and MBS, pH values, as well as the reaction temperature. Moreover, the contribution of HO\u2022 and SO4\u2022\u2212 to AO7 degradation was estimated as 51.59% and 46.45%, respectively. Furthermore, Cl\u2212 showed a minimal effect while HCO3\u2212 and humic acid resulted in a significant inhibitory effect on AO7 degradation. The satisfactory degradation of AO7 was achieved in three real water bodies. Ultimately, the results of gas chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry and the theoretical calculations greatly facilitate the proposal of AO7 degradation pathways, including N=N cleavage, hydroxylation, and hydrogen abstraction. The findings of this study indicate that the Fe(III)\/MBS process may be a promising AOP for further application in organic contaminants degradation during wastewater treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26030953","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,23]],"date-time":"2025-01-23T12:24:09Z","timestamp":1737635049000},"page":"953","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Activation of Metabisulfite by Dissolved Fe(III) at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations for Organic Contaminants Degradation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Jianan","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Longjiong","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leliang","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengyu","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ningxin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7905-5033","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guilong","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, College of Sericulture, Textile and Biomass Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shaogui","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7111-6543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chengdu","family":"Qi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environment, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Response Technology, Jiangsu Engineering Lab of Water and Soil Eco\u2013remediation, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"Hubei Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources Processing and Environment, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4790","DOI":"10.1021\/es0263792","article-title":"Degradation of organic contaminants in water with sulfate radicals generated by the conjunction of peroxymonosulfate with cobalt","volume":"37","author":"Anipsitakis","year":"2003","journal-title":"Environ. 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