Abstract
In this work, the photochemical treatment of a real municipal wastewater using a persulfate-driven photo-Fenton-like process was studied. The wastewater treatment efficiency was evaluated in terms of total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) removal. Response surface methodology (RSM) in conjunction Box-Behnken design (BBD) and multilayer artificial neural network (ANN) have been utilized for the optimization of the treatment process. The effects of four independent factors such as reaction time, pH, K2S2O8 concentration and K2S2O8/Fe2+ molar ratio on the TC, TOC and TN removal have been investigated. The process significant factors have been determined implementing Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Both RSM and ANN accurately found the optimum conditions for the maximum removal of TOC (100% and 98.7%, theoretically), which resulted in complete mineralization of TOC at the reaction time of 106.06 min, pH of 7.7, persulfate concentration of 30 mM and K2S2O8/Fe2+ molar ratio of 7.5 for RSM and at the reaction time of 104.93 min, pH of 7.7, persulfate concentration of 30 mM and K2S2O8/Fe2+ molar ratio of 9.57 for ANN. On the contrary, the attempts to find the optimal conditions for the maximum TC and TN removal using statistical, and neural network models were not successful.
Highlights
Municipal wastewater (MWW) is the second limitless source of water [1]
The present study focused on the effectiveness of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) based on the application of iron salts, potassium persulfate, and UV radiation to treat real municipal wastewater
total carbon (TC) is the sum of total organic carbon (TOC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC)
Summary
Municipal wastewater (MWW) is the second limitless source of water [1]. MWW mostly contains water (99.9%) with relatively small concentrations of suspended and dissolved organic and inorganic solids [2]. The effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as a major source of emerging micropollutants, such as hormones, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products [7] Despite their low concentration (from a few ng/L to several μg/L), they are resistant to biodegradation, since conventional WWTPs cannot provide a high rate of removal of micropollutants [8]. Dbira et al [23] found that the photo-Fenton process was more efficient for the tannic acid degradation in aqueous solution than the UV/persulfate system, concluding that hydroxyl radicals were stronger oxidizing agents than sulfate radicals. The present study focused on the effectiveness of AOPs based on the application of iron salts, potassium persulfate, and UV radiation to treat real municipal wastewater. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used to optimize the photo-Fenton-like treatment of the MWW
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