Application of solar photo-Fenton at circumneutral pH to nanofiltration concentrates for removal of pharmaceuticals in MWTP effluents

In view of the inefficient elimination of micro-pollutants by today's conventional biological treatments and new legislation requiring elimination of at least 80 % of their concentration, the application of an advanced tertiary treatment must be studied. A good option would be advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), which have very often been combined with physicochemical pre-treatSments to increase efficiency or reduce operating costs. This study focused on the combination of membrane nanofiltration and solar photo-Fenton for the main purpose of removing five pharmaceuticals (sulfamethoxazole, ibuprofen, ofloxacin, carbamazepine and flumequine) from real MWTP effluents under realistic conditions (mu g L-1). This research also included tests performed with modified photo-Fenton using a low iron concentration at circumneutral pH and a low hydrogen peroxide dose, in an attempt to reduce major treatment costs. Over 80 % of dissolved organic carbon, chemical oxygen demand and turbidity were also retained during nanofiltration, making pharmaceutical removal less efficient in terms of concentrate treatment time than direct treatment, i.e. the concentrate illumination time was around 150 min while direct treatment was around 40 min. Nevertheless, it should be highlighted that, although no savings in installation costs was observed for the combined system (nanofiltration/solar photo-Fenton), the reaction rate improved and so, there was a savings in reagent costs (mainly hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid).