Tertiary treatment of urban wastewater by solar and UV-C driven advanced oxidation with peracetic acid: Effect on contaminants of emerging concern and antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Photo driven advanced oxidation process (AOP) with peracetic acid (PAA) has been poorly investigated in water and wastewater treatment so far. In the present work its possible use as tertiary treatment of urban wastewater to effectively minimize the release into the environment of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and antibiotic resistant bacteria was investigated. Different initial PAA concentrations, two light sources (sunlight and UV-C) and two different water matrices (groundwater (GW) and wastewater (WW)) were studied. Low PAA doses were found to be effective in the inactivation of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli (AR E. coli) in GW, being UV-C driven process faster (detection limit (DL) achieved for a cumulative energy (QUV) of 0.3 kJL-1 with 0.2 mg PAA L-1) than solar driven one (DL achieved at QUV=4.4 kJL-1 with 0.2 mg PAA L-1). Really fast inactivation rates of indigenous AR E. coli were observed in WW. Higher QUV and PAA initial doses were necessary to effectively remove the three target CECs (carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac and sulfamethoxazole), being CBZ the more refractory one. In conclusion, photo driven AOP with PAA can be effectively used as tertiary treatment of urban wastewater but initial PAA dose should be optimized to find the best compromise between target bacteria inactivation and CECs removal as well as to prevent scavenging effect of PAA on hydroxyl radicals because of high PAA concentration.

Investigating the impact of UV-C/H2O2 and sunlight/H2O2 on the removal of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants and toxicity present in urban wastewater

“…In a previous study of Rizzo et al [47], SMX was moderately degraded during photolysis (43% after 300 min irradiation and 53.7 kJ L -1 ).…”

Photocatalytic ZnO-Assisted Degradation of Spiramycin in Urban Wastewater: Degradation Kinetics and Toxicity

“…At very low antibiotics concentrations, bacteria are not killed and can develop genes to protect themselves against antibiotics. These genes can then propagate across bacterial strains [11][12][13]. Without further action, ten million people may die each year worldwide due to infectious diseases caused by multi-resistant bacteria by 2050 [14].…”

Photocatalytic performance and photodegradation kinetics of Fenton-like process based on haematite nanocrystals for basic dye removal

“…The dissolved O 2 is consumed and thus disturbs the aquatic ecosystem. Subsequently, there will be a challenge for the existence of fishes and other lives in wide spread [4].…”