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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering >> 2014, Volume 8, Issue 1 doi: 10.1007/s11783-013-0518-z

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

1. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; 2. School of Environment, THU – VEOLIA Joint Research Center for Advanced Environmental Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; 3. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; 4. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control (MARC), Tsinghua University, Beijing 10084, China

Available online: 2014-02-01

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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.

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