Abstract
The increasing consumption of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) by humankind has been causing an accumulation of contaminants (commonly referred to as contaminants of emerging concern), in effluents and water resources. Ozonation can be used to improve the removal of these contaminants during water treatment to alleviate this burden. In this work, the degradation of methyl (MP), propylparaben (PP), paracetamol (PCT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and carbamazepine (CBZ) by ozonation was assessed both for individual compounds and for mixtures with increasing complexity (two to five compounds). Ozonation was performed at pH3 to gain an insight on the exclusive action of molecular ozone as oxidizing agent. The degradation of contaminants was described as a function of time and transferred ozone dose, and the corresponding pseudo-first order kinetic rate constants (k’) were determined. PPCPs were degraded individually within 1.5 to 10 min. CBZ was the most quickly degraded (k’ = 1.25 min−1) and MP the most resistant to ozone (k’ = 0.25 min−1). When in the mixture, the degradation rate of the contaminants was slower. For parabens, the increase of the number of compounds in the mixture led to an exponential decrease of the k’ values. Moreover, the presence of more PPCPs within the mixture increased energy consumption associated with the treatment, thereby reflecting higher economic costs.
Highlights
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) need to improve their effectiveness regarding the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as the pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP), with the addition of efficient tertiary processes [2,5]
Molecular ozone should be the main agent responsible for PPCPs removal in real wastewater since the hydroxyl radical can be scavenged by inorganic species naturally occurring in actual effluents
PPCPs since it allows the complete removal of these compounds in few minutes
Summary
Drinking water scarcity is a major concern, as it affects both public health and the economy [2]. The exponential population growth, increased industry development, and consequent effects concerning climate change have been leading to an increased water demand across the planet [1]. In a more favorable scenario, but still concerning one, Boretti and Rosa [4] reported that global water demand is expected to have an increase of up to 20–30% by 2050. Wastewater reclamation is important issue to face and the impact of water scarcity must be minimized. Within this perspective, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) need to improve their effectiveness regarding the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as the pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP), with the addition of efficient tertiary processes [2,5]
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