Abstract
High concentrations of pharmaceuticals have been detected in greywater effluents treated using up-to-date technologies. Finding a suitable additional treatment before this effluent is reused is urgently needed to ensure the reused water meets quality standards. This paper reports the use of heterogeneous photocatalysis on anatase and rutile nanopowders to remove naproxen, metformin and sulfamethoxazole, at practically relevant concentrations found in membrane bioreactor (MBR)-treated greywater. A low anatase concentration of 400 mg L−1 was sufficient to efficiently degrade the pharmaceuticals listed above, with complete degradation observed in 5 h. The effect of background species presented in greywater was, to some extent, comparable to that of the OH-radical scavenger. These results prove that photocatalysis using anatase TiO2 is a feasible additional treatment for greywater recycling.
Highlights
IntroductionThe rapidly increased water scarcity index has emphasized the importance of recycling and reusing greywater, which can mitigate limited freshwater resources on activities where non-potable water could be utilized
This paper showed the potential of TiO2 photocatalysis for the removal of pharmaceuticals with different chemical structures at practically relevant concentrations found in greywater influent
We demonstrated the high efficiency of anatase TiO2 in degrading photocatalytically naproxen, metformin and sulfamethoxazole in greywater
Summary
The rapidly increased water scarcity index has emphasized the importance of recycling and reusing greywater, which can mitigate limited freshwater resources on activities where non-potable water could be utilized. The biggest obstacle in recycling greywater for irrigation, for instance, is the presence of micropollutants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products [1,2,3]. Pharmaceuticals are bioactive, persistent and prone to bioaccumulation, posing a high risk when they enter the environment. Diclofenac, for instance, an analgesic, has been linked to the declined population of vultures in India, and carbamazepine, an antiepileptic, has detrimental effects on fish organs [4,5]. Most conventional treatment technologies used for greywater recycling have little or no capacity to remove pharmaceuticals due to various inhibitory factors
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