Photodegradation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products during UV and UV/H2O2 treatments

Chemosphere. 2009 Oct;77(4):518-25. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2009.07.041. Epub 2009 Aug 26.

Abstract

Photodegradation characteristics of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and the effectiveness of H(2)O(2) addition for PPCPs photodegradation during UV treatment were examined in this study. Average k (1st order rate constant) value for all the PPCPs investigated increased by a factor of 1.3 by H(2)O(2) addition during UV treatment using biologically treated water (TW) spiked with the 30 PPCPs. Therefore, the effectiveness of H(2)O(2) addition for PPCPs removal during UV treatment in real wastewater treatment process was expected. It could be also known that H(2)O(2) addition would improve photodegradation rates of PPCPs highly resistant for UV treatment such as DEET, ethenzamide and theophylline. UV dose required for 90% degradation of each PPCP was calculated from k values obtained in UV and UV/H(2)O(2) treatment experiments using TW spiked with 30 PPCPs. For UV treatment, UV dose required for degrading each PPCP by 90% of initial concentration ranged from 38 mJ cm(-2) to 5644 mJ cm(-2), indicating that most of PPCPs will not be removed sufficiently in UV disinfection process in wastewater treatment plant. For UV/H(2)O(2) treatment, all the PPCPs except seven PPCPs including cyclophosphamide and 2-QCA were degraded by more than 90% by UV irradiation for 30 min (UV dose: 691 mJ cm(-2)), indicating that H(2)O(2) addition during UV treatment will be highly effective for improving the degradation of PPCPs by UV, even though much higher UV dose is still necessary comparing to for UV disinfection.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cosmetics / chemistry*
  • Cosmetics / radiation effects
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Peroxide / chemistry*
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations / chemistry*
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations / radiation effects
  • Photolysis*
  • Ultraviolet Rays*

Substances

  • Cosmetics
  • Pharmaceutical Preparations
  • Hydrogen Peroxide