Removal of selected antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs during post‐treatment of municipal wastewater with UV, UV/chlorine and UV/hydrogen peroxide

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are only partially removed by convectional wastewater treatment plants. This study aimed at assessing the post‐treatment degradation of selected antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs by direct UV photolysis and advanced oxidation processes (UV/H2O2 and UV/Cl2)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water and environment journal : WEJ 2020-11, Vol.34 (4), p.692-703
Main Authors: Ngumba, Elijah, Gachanja, Anthony, Tuhkanen, Tuula
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
advanced oxidation process
Antibiotics
Antiretroviral agents
Antiretroviral drugs
Chlorine
Ciprofloxacin
Degradation
Drugs
Hydrogen peroxide
Kinetics
Mercury
Mercury (metal)
Mercury lamps
Municipal wastewater
Organic matter
Oxidants
Oxidation
Oxidizing agents
Photolysis
post‐treatment
Reaction kinetics
Sulfamethoxazole
Ultraviolet radiation
wastewater
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
Zidovudine
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Summary:Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are only partially removed by convectional wastewater treatment plants. This study aimed at assessing the post‐treatment degradation of selected antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs by direct UV photolysis and advanced oxidation processes (UV/H2O2 and UV/Cl2) using low‐pressure mercury lamp. The rate of degradation largely followed pseudo first‐order reaction kinetics. Amongst the six studied APIs, sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin and zidovudine were readily degraded by more than 90% using direct UV photolysis. Addition of Cl2 and H2O2 to the UV process led to an increase in the rate of degradation for all the compounds. The effectiveness UV/Cl2 process was affected to a greater extent by the background effluent organic matter. This implies that higher electrical energy and oxidant would be required in the UV/Cl2 process relative to UV/H2O2 process. Generally, electrical energy required to remove 90% of the target compounds increased in the order UV/H2O2
ISSN:1747-6585
1747-6593
DOI:10.1111/wej.12612