UV and simulated solar photodegradation of 17α-ethynylestradiol in secondary-treated wastewater by hydrogen peroxide or iron addition

Abstract

Please cite this article in press as: Z. Frontistis, et al., UV and simulated solar photodegradation of 17␣-ethynylestradiol in secondarytreated wastewater by hydrogen peroxide or iron addition, Catal. Today (2014), http://dx. a b s t r a c tThe extensive use of estrogens and their release, through various pathways, into the environment, constitutes an emerging environmental problem that poses serious threats onto public health. In this work the efficiency of UVC/H 2 O 2 and solar/Fe 2+ treatment to degrade 17␣-ethynylestradiol (EE2) in environmentally relevant concentrations of 100 g/L in secondary-treated wastewater matrices was investigated. Also, photolytic treatment was performed under different irradiation sources, namely UVC, UVA and simulated solar light. The effect of H 2 O 2 (0-20 mg/L) and Fe 2+ (0-15 mg/L) concentration was investigated and, at optimal operating parameters, EE2 removal was 100% after 15 min of UVC/H 2 O 2 treatment, while EE2 removal reached 86% after 60 min of solar/Fe 2+ treatment. In addition, the effect of water matrix and pH was studied. Total organic carbon (TOC) and yeast estrogen screening (YES) measurements showed the formation of stable intermediate products during EE2 treatment and an attempt to elucidate the reaction pathways and mechanisms through the identification of transformation products (TPs) by means of UPLC-MS/MS was made. Several TPs, including quinone methide and 1,2-quinone derivatives, were identified and competing pathways were suggested, in which hydroxylation, alkylation, dealkylation, demethylation and dehydroxylation, amongst others were described as major transformation mechanisms.

A review of solar and visible light active TiO2 photocatalysis for treating bacteria, cyanotoxins and contaminants of emerging concern

“…Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are chemicals that have xenobiotic or exogenous origins that can interfere and alter the function of the endocrine system and consequently cause adverse health effects in animals and humans [118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125]. Several substances have already been classified as or as having the potential to be EDCs (Fig.…”

Selecting the best AOP for isoxazolyl penicillins degradation as a function of water characteristics: Effects of pH, chemical nature of additives and pollutant concentration

“…Effect of inorganics species in natural water at different isoxazolyl penicillin concentrations Recent investigations have shown that inorganic species in natural waters have inhibition and enhancement effects during the degradation of organic pollutants by AOPs (Costa and Olivi, 2009;Frontistis et al, 2014;Guzman-Duque et al, 2011;Hazime et al, 2012;Lipczynska-Kochany and Kochany, 2008;Merouani et al, 2010;Torres et al, 2007). In order to evaluate the effect of inorganics species commonly found in natural waters, experiments were carried out using characterized (Table 1) natural mineral water (pH 6.2).…”

Electrochemical degradation of estrone using a boron-doped diamond anode in a filter-press reactor

“…has been actively investigated -see e.g. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Despite yielding some promising results, there are drawbacks.…”