Scientists crack long-standing chemistry mystery
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 07:02
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) -- A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory has answered a key question concerning the widely-used Fenton reaction important in wastewater treatment to destroy hazardous organic chemicals and decontaminate bacterial pathogens and in industrial chemical production. The naturally occurring reaction was first discovered in 1894 by H.J.H. Fenton, a British chemist at Cambridge, and involves hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and iron.