Removal of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Wastewater Treatment by Fenton-Like Oxidation

Abstract

The presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in wastewater effluent is a major concern to the scientific community. This research effort was aimed at investigating Fenton-like degradation of two EDCs 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). The results of the study showed that E2 and EE2 were effectively removed by the Fenton-like oxidation process. Removal efficiencies of 95% and 98% at ferric concentration of 1×10 −3 M (58.6 mgl −1 ) were achieved for E2 and EE2, respectively. The kinetics of Fenton-like degradation of E2 and EE2 were adequately described by the pseudo second order kinetic model. Values of 27.8 and 22.5 kJmol −1 were obtained for the activation energy for E2 and EE2, respectively, from the Arrhenius-type plot, showing that the process does not just involve radical reactions but also intermediate reaction steps involving radicalmolecule or ion-molecule reactions. The presence of high dissolved organics in wastewater significantly reduced the removal efficiencies. The reaction byproducts for E2 and EE2 were more stable to the oxidation process and more readily biodegradable. Fenton-like oxidations therefore offers a promising alternative for the removal of these EDCs in wastewater treatment applications at the tertiary treatment stage.

Mineralization of Azo Dye Using Combined Photo-Fenton and Photocatalytic Processes under Visible Light

“…Heterogeneous photocatalysis using titania photocatalyst has been established as a principal advanced oxidation process (AOP) for wastewater treatment. For a century, photo-Fenton reactions were also considered widely for the removal of organic pollutants [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The combination of heterogeneous photocatalysis with another AOP can be cost-effective as long as this combination produces a synergic effect.…”

Sonochemical degradation of endocrine disrupting chemicals 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol in water and wastewater

“…A number of AOPs have been investigated for treatment of emerging contaminants in various water environments (Esplugas et al 2007). Techniques that have been used include: TiO 2 photocatalysis induced by UV-A (Rizzo et al 2009), Fenton's oxidation (Hsueh et al 2005), artificial solar irradiation (Méndez-Arriaga et al 2008), degradation by photo-Fenton oxidation based on sunlight (Shemer et al 2006), ozonation (Vogna et al 2004), chlorine dioxide oxidation (Deborde and von Gunten 2008) and Fenton-like oxidation (Ifelebuegu and Ezenwa 2011). Some of the AOPs have got drawbacks related to formation of by-products that could have harmful effects.…”

Removal of Steriod Hormones by Activated Carbon Adsorption—Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies

“…Various methods have been assessed including granular activated carbon adsorption [6][7][8], and other novel absorbents have shown potentials [9][10][11][12]. The use of various advance chemical oxidation processes and membrane processes have also been investigated [13][14][15][16]. Use of activated carbon is favoured by many as it has been used extensively for treatment of portable water and there is no concern of by-product formation as with most advanced chemical oxidation processes [11].…”