Removal of pharmaceutical and personal care products by sequential ultraviolet and ozonation process in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant

Abstract

The application of appropriate advanced treatment process in the municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has become an important issue considering the elimination of emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs). In the present study, the removal of 13 PPCPs belonging to different therapeutic classes by the sequential ultraviolet (UV) and ozonation process in a full-scale WWTP in Beijing was investigated over the course of ten months. Most of the target PPCPs were effectively removed, and the median removal efficiencies of individual PPCPs, ranging from -13% to 89%, were dependent on their reaction rate constants with molecular ozone. Noticeable fluctuation in the removal efficiencies of the same PPCPs was observed in different sampling campaigns. Nevertheless, the sequential UV and ozonation process still made a significant contribution to the total elimination of most PPCPs in the full-scale WWTP, by compensating for the poor or fluctuant removal performance of PPCPs by biologic treatment process.

Keywords

PPCPs / advanced treatment / ozone / fluctuation / removal contribution

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors should like to express their gratitude to the staff in the wastewater treatment plants for their help during the sampling campaign. This research was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51208199), Shanghai Postdoctoral Sustentation Fund, China (No. 12R21412100), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.2011M500071), the Foundation of State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control (Nos. MARC2011D032 and MARC2011D044), and Special Fund of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (Nos.11K10ESPCT and 12K02ESPCT).

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