engleski

Photooxidative degradation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides in water: mechanistic modelling approach

Pharmaceuticals and pesticides are of particular concern due to their ubiquity in the aquatic environment and their health effects. They are often hardly biodegradable and physicochemical technologies are required for their removal from water. For these reasons there is a need to explore effective and environmentally acceptable methods of treatment for the removal of pharmaceuticals and pesticides from water. Amongst possible solutions, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) show great potential. AOPs are based on the generation of highly reactive radical species, primarily hydroxyl radicals (HO•) and are capable to provide complete degradation/mineralization of the majority of organics in water. This work deals with the degradation effectiveness of the UV‐ C/H2O2 oxidation of seventeen pharmaceuticals and pesticides. Several process parameters were monitored: conversion and mineralization kinetics of the investigated pollutant, oxidant consumption, and change of pH‐values during the treatment. Based on these parameters, a mathematical/mechanistic model (MM) was developed to predict process effectiveness of UV‐C/H2O2 oxidation for the degradation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides. MM was employed in order to simultaneously predict the behavior of several process responses providing a solid base for future scale‐up. The developed MM is flexible and accurate. It can be used for the prediction of degradation effectiveness of pharmaceuticals and pesticides with complex structures by UV‐C photo‐ assisted AOPs in the presence of hydrogen peroxide as oxidant.

photooxidative degradation ; pharmaceuticals ; pesticides ; mechanistic modelling

nije evidentirano