Removal of pharmaceuticals from WWTP effluent: removal of EfOM followed by advanced oxidation

“Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) throughout the Netherlands contain significant concentrations of pharmaceuticals (25–65 μg/L) and about 10–20 mg C/L dissolved non-biodegradable organic matter. By means of IEX mainly the humic acid fraction of the effluent organic matter can be removed, whereas O3/biofiltration mainly removes the hydrophobic fraction. For the first time the combination of these processes with O3/H2O2, UV/H2O2 or UV/O3 was tested for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater effluent. Based on initial laboratory experiments, a pilot installation was built in which IEX followed by UV/H2O2 was applied to real WWTP effluent. The process appeared to be very robust, and able to remove a very broad range of different pharmaceuticals. The additional costs for this treatment are estimated at approximately €0.34/m3-treated effluent, which is in the same order of magnitude as estimated for other additional, but less versatile, treatment processes.”

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

(Citaat: Hofman-Caris, C.H.M., Siegers, W.G., Merlen, K. van de, Man, A.W.A. de, Hofman, J.A.M.H. – Removal of pharmaceuticals from WWTP effluent: removal of EfOM followed by advanced oxidation – Chemical Engineering Journal 327(2017), p.514-521)