Abstract

As normal municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTP) are not able to entirely degrade xenobiotic substances, this study focuses on modified solar photo-Fenton treatment (5 mg L −1 Fe, initial pH ≈ 7) of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWTP) effluent. However, effluents do not contain compounds which could form photoactive Fe 3+ complexes. The use of ferrioxalate, humic substances (HA) and mixing the MWTP effluent with small amounts of influent could be justified to form photoactive Fe 3+ complexes. All experiments were done in MWTP effluent spiked (5 or 100 μg/L) with 15 emerging contaminants (ECs) using a pilot compound parabolic collector (CPC) solar plant designed for solar photocatalytic applications. Dissolved organic carbon and UPLC–UV (with prior solid phase extraction) were applied for evaluating the results. The oxalate-enhanced process provided satisfactory EC degradation results but low residual pH of the treated water. HA (10 mg L −1) enhanced the process, balancing degradation time and residual pH. Mixing of MWTP influent and effluent delivered rather disappointing results, as EC degradation was unsuccessful in all cases tested.

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