Efficacy of simultaneous advanced oxidation and adsorption for treating municipal wastewater for indirect potable reuse

The main scope of this study was to compare the efficacy of different advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) combined with adsorption for treating secondary treated effluent of municipal wastewater in a continuous-labscale reactor. The results revealed enhanced removal of biological oxygen demand (BOD: C0: 14.1 and Ct: 0 mg L-1 (100%)), chemical oxygen demand (COD: C0: 40.5 and Ct: 4 mg L-1 (<90%)), and total organic carbon (TOC: C0: 15.2 and Ct: 3.02-3.63 mg L-1 (-80%)) by UV/PMS, O3/PMS, UV/O3/H2O2, and UV/O3/MnO2 processes followed by glass packed bed reactor (GPBR). Complete inactivation of the bacterial count was observed for all the studied processes. The GPBR showed the additional advantage of termination in the regrowth of bacterial count on the filtering medium. The gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis showed that AOP followed by adsorption reduced the concentrations of the by-products in the treated effluent. Overall, the synergy between AOP and adsorption improved the effluent quality to meet various indirect potable reuse (IPR) applications.

Automated summary

The main aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) combined with adsorption for the treatment of municipal wastewater. The results demonstrated that UV/PMS, O3/PMS, UV/O3/H2O2, and UV/O3/MnO2 processes combined with a glass packed bed reactor (GPBR) achieved significant removal of organic pollutants and complete inactivation of bacterial count. The combination of AOP and adsorption also resulted in reduced concentrations of by-products in the treated effluent, making it suitable for indirect potable reuse (IPR) applications.