Kinetic Study of Hydroxyl and Sulfate Radical-Mediated Oxidation of Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater Effluents

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), such as hydroxyl radical (HO center dot)- and sulfate radical (SO4 center dot-)-mediated oxidation, are alternatives for the attenuation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in wastewater effluents. However, the kinetics of these reactions needs to be investigated. In this study, kinetic models for 15 PPCPs were built to predict the degradation of PPCPs in both HO center dot- and SO4 center dot--mediated oxidation. In the UV/H2O2 process, a simplified kinetic model involving only steady state concentrations of HO center dot and its biomolecular reaction rate constants is suitable for predicting the removal of PPCPs, indicating the dominant role of HO center dot in the removal of PPCPs. In the UV/K2S2O8 process, the calculated steady state concentrations of CO3 center dot- and bromine radicals (Br-center dot, Br-2(center dot-) and BrCl center dot-) were 600-fold and 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than the concentrations of SO4 center dot-, respectively. The kinetic model, involving both SO4 center dot- and CO3 center dot- as reactive species, was more accurate for predicting the removal of the 9 PPCPs, except for salbutamol and nitroimidazoles. The steric and ionic effects of organic matter toward SO4 center dot- could lead to overestimations of the removal efficiencies of the SO4 center dot--mediated oxidation of nitroimidazoles in wastewater effluents.