Comparison of the advanced oxidation processes in the degradation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides in simulated urban wastewater: Principal component analysis and energy requirements

Pollutants such as pharmaceutical products and pesticides are still present in treated water. Several of these compounds are photoactive. The photodegradation of eight organic pollutants was studied using listed advanced oxidation processes: UV/H2O2, UV/persulfate, Fenton, photo-Fenton and UV/TiO2. The results show that photodegradation is most effective in the first 10 min of treatments in simulated urban wastewater collected from the local Nisava River. To identify the correlation between applied degradation processes as well as the relationship among the structure of investigated compounds and efficiency of degradation, Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed. The established correlations between the applied processes, as well as the determination of the influence of the structure on the efficiency of degradation, enable a more efficient choice of the degradation procedure, especially in the case of interference. Additionally, process electrical energy consumption and treatment costs for simulated urban wastewater with different pharmaceuticals and pesticides were determined. (C) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that photodegradation is most effective in the first 10 minutes of treatment of organic pollutants in simulated urban wastewater. Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis and principal component analysis were used to determine the relationship between different degradation processes and the structure of compounds and degradation efficiency. This analysis allows for a more efficient choice of degradation processes and determination of treatment costs.