Removal of Diclofenac, Ketoprofen, and Carbamazepine from Simulated Drinking Water by Advanced Oxidation in a Model Reactor

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 228; no. 9; p. 1
• Main Authors: Jankunaite, Dalia, Tichonovas, Martynas, Buivydiene, Dalia, Radziuniene, Inga, Racys, Viktoras, Krugly, Edvinas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.09.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acute toxicity; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carbamazepine; Catalysis; Chironomus; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Computer simulation; Decomposition; Decomposition reactions; Degradation; Detection; Diclofenac; Dielectric barrier discharge; Drinking water; Drugs; Duration; Earth and Environmental Science; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Heat treatment; High performance liquid chromatography; HPLC; Hydrogeology; Ketoprofen; Larvae; Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Oxidation; Oxidation-reduction reactions; Pharmaceuticals; Photocatalysis; Plasma physics; Pollutant removal; Pollutants; Reactors; Removal; Soil Science & Conservation; Thermal plasmas; Titanium oxides; Total organic carbon; Toxicity; Toxicity testing; Treated water; Ultraviolet radiation; Water pollution effects; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water treatment equipment; DBD plasma; Water pollution; Advanced oxidation; Photocatalysis; Ecotoxicity; Pharmaceuticals
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-017-3517-z

The objective of this study was to examine the degradation of pharmaceutical compounds diclofenac, ketoprofen, and carbamazepine in a bench-scale batch type advanced oxidation treatment system combining non-thermal plasma and UV photocatalysis. The key factors affecting pollutant decomposition were studied in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. This was followed by the comparative assessment of various advanced oxidation processes (O 3 ; UV+O 3 ; TiO 2 +O 3 ; TiO 2 +UV+O 3 ) in a UV-photocatalysis reactor. The overall effectiveness of the treatment process was established according to the decomposition efficiency of the individual compound determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC/UV), removal of total organic carbon (TOC), energy consumption, and acute toxicity test with Chironomus sp. larvae. Depending on the pharmaceutical compound and oxidation system, complete decomposition of the target compound was reached within 3–6 min. The TOC removal ranged between 25 and 100% with energy consumption varying 3.1–10.6 MJ/g. TiO 2 +UV+O 3 revealed slightly higher toxicity of treated water as compared to TiO 2 +O 3 (22–50% vs 17–33% mortality rate of Chironomus sp. larvae). TiO 2 +O 3 and TiO 2 +UV+O 3 systems proved as an efficient combination of AO processes for the decomposition of pharmaceuticals in water, as long as the treatment duration is sufficient to fully mineralize organic substances.