Abatement of ibuprofen by solar photocatalysis process: Enhancement and scale up

The aim of this work is to evaluate the degradation of the emerging pharmaceutical contaminant ibuprofen (IBP) in water by heterogeneous photocatalysis in three different solar pilot plants. IBP and TOC removal increase directly proportional to concentration of catalyst (TiO2). The addition of H2O2 increases the removal efficiency. The complete IBP removal and decrease of TOC to sufficient extent was stated in optimal experimental conditions and biodegradability and average oxidation state (AOS) results conducted suggest a post-biological treatment of solution. Surface responses obtained from the experimental results, for different initial IBP and TiO2 concentrations used, can allow to predict time needed for a sufficient TOC removal to reach sufficient biodegradability. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.