Elimination of micropollutants from water by a combination of oxidation and sorption processes on a laboratory scale

Authors

  • Tamara Pacholská Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Ivan Karpíšek Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Jana Zuzáková Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6; Pražské vodovody a kanalizace, a.s., Ke Kablu 971/1, Hostivař, 102 00 Praha 10
  • Vojtěch Kužel Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Stanislav Gajdoš Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Zuzana Nováková Pražské vodovody a kanalizace, a.s., Ke Kablu 971/1, Hostivař, 102 00 Praha 10
  • Dana Vejmelková Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Pavla Šmejkalová Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6
  • Vojtěch Kouba Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, FTOP, Ústav technologie vody a prostředí, Technická 5, 166 28 Praha 6

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35933/ENTECHO.2021.003

Keywords:

Micropollutants, post-treatment of municipal sewage treatment plant effluent, oxidation processes, sorption processes

Abstract

Micropollutants cause harm to aquatic ecosystems and can also negatively affect human health. Major sources of micropollutants input to aquatic environments are wastewater treatment plants due to their insufficient removal during the conventional mechanical-biological process. This study aimed to evaluate potential WWTP effluent post-treatment processes for the removal of selected pharmaceuticals and pesticides using oxidation (e.g., ozonization, UV/H2O2, Fenton, boron-doped diamond electrode) and sorption (e.g. granular activated carbon, zeolite) processes and their combinations. The removal of selected pharmaceuticals (e.g. erythromycin, sulphamethoxazole, ibuprofen) and pesticides (e.g. acetochlor ESA, metazachlor ESA) was tested in batch assays. The combination of UV/H2O2 and activated carbon adsorption was the most favorable in terms of removal efficiency and economic and operational parameters. This combination achieved the removal efficiencies of pharmaceuticals and pesticides of 91 and 100%, respectively, using an optimum H2O2 dose of 5 mg/L and UV intensity of 4 kJ/m2 followed by granular activated carbon adsorption. These promising results are currently adopted in a pilot-scale study for the post-treatment of a real WWTP effluent.

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Published

2021-06-30

How to Cite

Pacholská, T. (2021) “Elimination of micropollutants from water by a combination of oxidation and sorption processes on a laboratory scale”, ENTECHO, 4(1), pp. 15–20. doi: 10.35933/ENTECHO.2021.003.

Issue

No. 1 (2021)

Section

Peer reviewed articles

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