Photodegradation of paracetamol by photo-Fenton process

Abstract

The presence of pharmaceuticals in surface water, sewage treatment plant effluents (STP) and groundwater waters has been recently reported to be an environmental issue of great significance because of its consequences over ecosystems and human health. Photo-Fenton process has shown to be effective as an alternative to remediate wastewaters containing this kind of contaminants and it can be used before or after conventional treatments. Although this process has been widely studied, a lot of work is still required in order to develop a practical understanding of its performance so that the operational conditions can be determined to exploit it efficiently in terms of economical and environmental costs.

In this work, the photo-Fenton degradation of solutions pharmaceutical such as paracetamol (PCT) (15 L, 40 mg L-1) has been addressed. The treatment performance has been analyzed under a factorial design and the efficiency of the degradation process has been evaluated considering the decay of PCT and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations and the biological oxygen demand, BOD5. Light influence has also been assessed and the photonic efficiency for the photooxidation of paracetamol by photo-Fenton process has been determined.

Finally, data obtained from the assays performed are discussed and compared. Results characterizing the treatment output dependence on factors such as hydrogen peroxide, iron (II) and photonic efficiency, allow determining enhanced conditions for the photo-Fenton degradation of paracetamol solutions.