Sonoelectrochemical process has emerged as a novel integrated technology for various applications starting from sonoelectroplating till the remediation of a wide range of contaminants. Although a promising new technology, the application of sonoelectrochemical technology for pollutant degradation are mostly on a laboratory scale, utilizing the conventional reactor configuration of the electrolytic vessel and ultrasonic horns dipped in it. This type of configuration has been believed to be responsible for its sluggish evolution with lower reproducibility, scale-up and design aspects. To achieve a major turn with an enhanced synergy, refinements in the form of optimizing the co-ordination of the governing parameters of both the technologies (e.g., power, frequency, liquid height, electrode material, electrode size, electrode gap, applied voltage, current density etc.) have been validated. Besides, in order to supplement knowledge in the already existing pool, rigorous research on the past and present status has been done. Challenges were also identified and to overcome them, critical discussions covering an overview of the progressive developments on combining the two technologies and its major applications on pollutant degradation were conducted.

A combined ultrasound (US)/H₂O₂ process was used to oxidize arsenite to arsenate, yielding a synergistic effect value of 1.26. This showed that the combined process could be an effective method of oxidizing arsenite, instead of using either ultrasonic or H₂O₂ oxidation processes. This combined process was successfully modeled and optimized using a Box-Behnken design with response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of the US power density, the initial concentration of arsenite, and the H₂O₂ concentration on the sonochemical oxidation efficiency of arsenite were investigated. Analysis of variance indicated that the proposed quadratic model successfully interpreted the experimental data with coefficients of determination of R ² = 0.95 and adjusted R ² = 0.91. Through this model, we can predict and control the oxidation efficiency under different conditions. Furthermore, the optimal conditions for the oxidation of arsenite were found to be a US power density of 233.26 W L⁻¹, an initial arsenite concentration of 0.5 mg L⁻¹, and an H₂O₂ concentration of 74.29 mg L⁻¹. The predicted oxidation efficiency obtained from the RSM under the optimal conditions was 88.95%. A confirmation test of the optimal conditions verified the validity of the model, yielding an oxidation efficiency of 90.1%.

Uniform core–shell structured magnetic mesoporous TiO ₂ as a highly efficient and stable sonocatalyst for the degradation of bisphenol-A.

A hybrid advanced oxidation process combining sonochemistry (US) and electrochemistry (EC) for the batch scale degradation of ibuprofen was developed. The performance of this hybrid reactor system was evaluated by quantifying on the degradation of ibuprofen under the variation in electrolytes, frequency, applied voltage, ultrasonic power density and temperature in aqueous solutions with a platinum electrode. Among the methods examined (US, EC and US/EC), the hybrid method US/EC resulted 89.32%, 81.85% and 88.7% degradations while using NaOH, H2SO4 and deionized water (DI), respectively, with a constant electrical voltages of 30V, an ultrasound frequency of 1000kHz, and a power density of 100WL(-1) at 298K in 1h. The degradation was established to follow pseudo first order kinetics. In addition, energy consumption and energy efficiencies were also calculated. The probable mechanism for the anodic oxidation of ibuprofen at a platinum electrode was also postulated.