Assessment of Biological and Persistent Organic Compounds in Hospital Wastewater After Advanced Oxidation Process UV/H2O2/O3

Abstract

This work studies the reduction of biological and organic compounds in hospital wastewaters (HWW) by advanced oxidation process (AOP). The HWW samples were previously treated with an extended aeration process and, thereafter, a post-treatment with AOP based on UV/H2O2/O3 system with a medium pressure mercury lamp was applied. After using the AOP system, the water samples were characterized using chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, color test, coliforms and E. coli test, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and UV-Visible absorption spectra. The results showed that 73% of organic compounds were removed in 20 min and the HWW sample was sterilized; nevertheless, 10 persistent organic compounds and 8 by-products formed after AOP UV/H2O2/O3 were observed, some of them are toxic compounds. In this sense, current HWW treatment plants cannot eliminate all contaminants in HWW; therefore, it is necessary to improve current processes by techniques as AOP and create standards to control biological and organic compounds in HWW in Mexico