Peracetic Acid vs. Sodium Hypochlorite: Degradation and Transformation of Drugs in Wastewater.

Giovanni Luongo,Lucio Previtera,Giovanni Di Fabio,Armando Zarrelli,Afef Ladhari

doi:10.3390/molecules25102294

Giovanni Luongo, Lucio Previtera + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25102294

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Abstract

Numerous substances from different chemical sectors, from the pharmaceutical industry to the many consumer products available for everyday usage, can find their way into water intended for human consumption and wastewater, and can have adverse effects on the environment and human health. Thus, the disinfection process is an essential stage in water and wastewater treatment plants to destroy pathogenic microorganisms but it can form degradation byproducts. Sodium hypochlorite is the most common disinfectant, but the most important drawback associated with this kind of compound is the generation of toxic disinfection byproducts. Many studies have been carried out to identify alternative disinfectants, and in the last few years, peracetic acid has been highlighted as a feasible solution, particularly in wastewater treatment. This study compares the transformations of five emerging pollutants (caffeine, tramadol, irbesartan, diclofenac, trazodone) treated with peracetic acid, to evaluate their degradation and the possible formation of byproducts with those obtained with sodium hypochlorite. Although peracetic acid has many advantages, including a wide field of use against microorganisms and a low toxicity towards animal and plant organisms, it is not as effective in the degradation of the considered pollutants. These ones are recovered substantially and are unchanged quantitatively, producing a very low number of byproducts.

Highlights

Social, productive, and recreational activities require and use a large quantity of water [1], with the direct consequence of the production of discharges that, in order to be returned to the environment, must necessarily be purified
Solution of drug was treated for 1 h with 12% peracetic acid at room temperature [11,20], simulating the conditions used in a typical wastewater treatment process
The pH of the solution was measured by a pH-meter at 10 min intervals and the course of the reaction was monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) The main degradation byproducts (DP1–DP7; Figure 1) were identified by comparing their retention times with those of standard compounds commercially available or compounds isolated for the first time

Summary

Introduction

Productive, and recreational activities require and use a large quantity of water [1], with the direct consequence of the production of discharges that, in order to be returned to the environment, must necessarily be purified. Regardless of the need for purification processes in terms of environmental impact, proper management of the water cycle involves the application of existing technological knowledge to achieve socially and economically useful objectives, such as the protection of surface and Molecules 2020, 25, 2294; doi:10.3390/molecules25102294 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules. The economic advantage of reuse lies in providing the community with a water supply, at least for some uses (for example, in the agricultural field for irrigating the fields) for which high-quality water is not required, at lower costs, as recycling costs less than disposal [5]. Conventional treatments are almost never enough, and the technology is moving towards the development of new alternative disinfection treatment systems, aimed at obtaining a high degree of water quality, through the abatement of the microbial, nutrient and toxic substances [6,7]

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