Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Synthetic Wastewater by Ozone

Abstract

The removal of the pharmaceuticals from wastewater was investigated in the present study. The degradation of 17α-ethinylestradiol(ETH) (hormone), diclofenac (DIC)(antiinflammatory) and carbamazepine (CARB)(antiepileptic) by an advanced oxidation process (AOPs) based on ozone was studied at lab-scale in synthetic wastewater.
Pharmaceuticals have been detected at trace concentrations in the range of high ng/l or low µg/l in all influent and effluent real wastewater treatment plants which at this concentration pharmaceuticals can cause potentially adverse health effects.
The effects of operating conditions such as pH and O₃ concentration, on the degradation process were studied. The maximum degradation of pharmaceuticals dissolved in demineralized water was achieved at high pH (12) and (9 mg/l) O₃ concentration.
The effectiveness of O₃ process for treating pharmaceuticals in synthetic wastewater showed that the maximum removal of all pharmaceuticals (CARB, DIC and ETH) respectively was approximately (75.54, 77.23 and 80.68) % at O₃ concentration of 9 mg/l. A good correlations between pharmaceuticals removal and UV₂₅₄ removal was obtained (R²=0.9519). Also fluorescence data could be well correlated to pharmaceuticals removal with (R²=0.9416).