Dioxins and furans toxicity during the photocatalytic remediation of emerging pollutants. Triclosan as case study

The benefits of wastewater remediation technologies are offset in those cases where, as a result of operating conditions, harmful compounds are formed in the degradation routes of the original organic pollutants. This may be the case for the application of someadvanced oxidation processes to wastewater containing precursors of dioxins and furans, as previously reported in the application of electrochemical and Fenton oxidation to degrade Triclosan and 2-chlorophenol. This work reports for the first time a detailed kinetic analysis of the formation of dioxins and furans during the photocatalytic treatment of aqueous samples containing 5-Chloro-2-[2,4dichlorophenoxy] phenol, commercially known as Triclosan. After analysis of the PCDD/Fs concentration, the toxicity of the samples has been determined in terms of toxic equivalents (TEQ). TEQ values have been calculated, first with the group of 17 congeners with higher toxicity. Finally, a multivariable analysis and linear regression have been applied to reduce the significant number of congeners and optimize the analytical effort. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study provides a detailed kinetic analysis of the formation of dioxins and furans during the photocatalytic treatment of aqueous samples containing Triclosan, and determines the toxicity of the samples in terms of toxic equivalents (TEQ). TEQ values were calculated using the group of 17 congeners with higher toxicity, and multivariable analysis and linear regression were applied to reduce the significant number of congeners and optimize the analytical effort.