Degradation of carbamazepine by combined radiation and persulfate oxidation process

Role of microalgae-bacterial consortium in wastewater treatment: A review

In the global effort to reduce CO2 emissions, the concurrent enhancement of pollutant degradation and reductions in fossil fuel consumption are pivotal aspects of microalgae-mediated wastewater treatment. Clarifying the degradation mechanisms of bacteria and microalgae during pollutant treatment, as well as regulatory biolipid production, could enhance process sustainability. The synergistic and inhibitory relationships between microalgae and bacteria are introduced in this paper. The different stimulators that can regulate microalgal biolipid accumulation are also reviewed. Wastewater treatment technologies that utilize microalgae and bacteria in laboratories and open ponds are described to outline their application in treating heavy metal-containing wastewater, animal husbandry wastewater, pharmaceutical wastewater, and textile dye wastewater. Finally, the major requirements to scale up the cascade utilization of biomass and energy recovery are summarized to improve the development of biological wastewater treatment.

Simultaneous removal of carbamazepine and Cd(II) in groundwater by integration of peroxydisulfate oxidation and sulfidogenic process: The bridging role of SO42

Heat-activated PDS oxidation (HAPO) has been widely used for in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) of micropollutants in groundwater, whereas the aesthetic demerit of additional SO₄^2- production is largely overlooked. In this study, the sulfidogenic process is used to offset the aesthetic demerit, and the production of SO₄^2- is then employed to recycle heavy metals. The innovative integration technology with PDS oxidation and sulfidogenic process via the bridging role of SO₄^2- was reported to remove micropollutants and heavy metals in groundwater simultaneously. HAPO could completely degrade CBZ, producing 400 mg/L SO₄^2- with the addition of 0.50 g/L PDS. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) utilize SO₄^2- generated from HAPO as the electron acceptor in the sulfidogenic process, removing and recycling Cd(II) via the precipitation of CdS. The SRB tolerance experiment revealed the viability of PDS oxidation coupled with the sulfidogenic process via the bridging role of SO₄^2-. Overall, the integration technology is a green and promising technology for simultaneous micropollutants removal and heavy metals recycling in groundwater.

Quantification of 10,11-dihydro-10-hydroxy carbamazepine and 10,11-epoxycarbamazepine as the main by-products in the electrochemical degradation of carbamazepine

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most widely used antiepileptic drugs in Malaysia. It was detected frequently in wastewater. The electrochemical treatment process has been applied for the degradation of CBZ using graphite-PVC as an anode under these conditions: 0.5 g sodium chloride (NaCl)) as supporting electrolyte, 5 V and 0-60 min electrolysis time in 100 mL of solution. However, 10,11-dihydro10-hydroxy carbamazepine (HDX-CBZ) and 10,11-epoxycarbamazepine (EPX-CBZ) as the main by-product have been analysed and quantified using liquid chromatography-time of flight/mass spectrometry (LC-TOF/MS). Both by-products were analysed in positive ionization mode, and they were separated on a chromatographic C18 column (5 μm, 2 mm × 150 mm) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was applied as a pre-concentration step for the enhancement of the sensitivity and detectability for both HDX-CBZ and EPX-CBZ by-products. Methanol (MeOH) has been selected as the best elution solvent for both by-products compared to methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and acetone (AC). However, the recovery was 85% and 92% for HDX-CBZ and EPX-CBZ by-products, respectively. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.588 and 0.109 µg/L for HDX-CBZ and EPX-CBZ by-products, respectively. After 20 min of electrolysis time, both by-products HDX-CBZ and EPX-CBZ appeared at maximum concentrations of 343 and 144 μg/L then they were decreased to 17.2 and 9.8 μg/L, respectively, after 40 min. At the end of electrochemical treatment, both by-products were completely eliminated after 60 min.

A comprehensive review on persulfate activation treatment of wastewater

With increasingly serious environmental pollution and the production of various wastewater, water pollutants have posed a serious threat to human health and the ecological environment. The advanced oxidation process (AOP), represented by the persulfate (PS) oxidation process, has attracted increasing attention because of its economic, practical, safety and stability characteristics, opening up new ideas in the fields of wastewater treatment and environmental protection. However, PS does not easily react with organic pollutants and usually needs to be activated to produce oxidizing active substances such as sulfate radicals (SO₄^-) and hydroxyl radicals (OH) to degrade them. This paper summarizes the research progress of PS activation methods in the field of wastewater treatment, such as physical activation (e.g., thermal, ultrasonic, hydrodynamic cavitation, electromagnetic radiation activation and discharge plasma), chemical activation (e.g., alkaline, electrochemistry and catalyst) and the combination of the different methods, putting forward the advantages, disadvantages and influencing factors of various activation methods, discussing the possible activation mechanisms, and pointing out future development directions.

Determining the kinetic constants leading to mineralization of dilute carbamazepine and estradiol-containing solutions under continuous supercritical water oxidation conditions

Continuous subcritical and supercritical water oxidation experiments were conducted on dilute carbamazepine- and estradiol-containing synthetic solutions used to simulate the removal of model emerging pollutants from secondary municipal effluents. The operating conditions comprised 340-500 °C, retention time of 24-453 s and a stoichiometric oxidant ratio (O.C.) between 4 and 64. The transformation of the various species was determined at the outlet and by modeling a segmented non-isothermal reaction system. Four empirical power law kinetic models were established to represent both the pollutants' degradation and TOC removal efficiencies, using nonlinear multiple regression coupled with bootstrapping and K-fold cross-validation. The mineralization and degradation models for both pollutants yielded a R² of 67-80.5% vs. the experimental results. Discussion on the various model assumptions revealed that attributing full model deviations to the constant oxygen concentration or to the laminar reactor flow, yielded a deviation of 6% and 15% in the removal efficiencies, respectively. However, the expected deviation of the models was lower than 0.32% at conditions leading to (almost) full mineralization (45-60 s, 480-500 °C and O.C.s of 5-10). The methodologies developed in the study are useful for interpreting future results obtained from SCWO of actual secondary effluent solutions.

Occurrence, transformation, bioaccumulation, risk and analysis of pharmaceutical and personal care products from wastewater: a review

Almost all aspects of society from food security to disease control and prevention have benefited from pharmaceutical and personal care products, yet these products are a major source of contamination that ends up in wastewater and ecosystems. This issue has been sharply accentuated during the coronavirus disease pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) due to the higher use of disinfectants and other products. Here we review pharmaceutical and personal care products with focus on their occurrence in the environment, detection, risk, and removal.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-022-01498-7.

FeS2/carbon felt as an efficient electro-Fenton cathode for carbamazepine degradation and detoxification: In-depth discussion of reaction contribution and empirical kinetic model

Carbamazepine (CBZ) decay by electro-Fenton (EF) oxidation using a novel FeS₂/carbon felt (CF) cathode, instead of a soluble iron salt, was studied with the aim to accelerate the reaction between H₂O₂ and ferrous ions, which helps to produce more hydroxyl radicals (^•OH) and eliminate iron sludge. First, fabricated FeS₂ and its derived cathode were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Anodes were then screened, with DSA (Ti/IrO₂-RuO₂) showing the best performance under EF oxidation regarding CBZ degradation and electrochemical characterization. Several operating parameters of this EF process, such as FeS₂ loading, current density, gap between electrodes (GBE), initial [CBZ], and electrolyte type, were also investigated. Accordingly, a nonconsecutive empirical kinetic model was established to predict changes in CBZ concentration under the given operational parameters. The contribution of different oxidation types to the EF process was calculated using kinetic analysis and quenching experiments to verify the role of the FeS₂-modified cathode. The reaction contributions of anodic oxidation (AO), H₂O₂ electrolysis (EP), and EF oxidation to CBZ removal were 12.81%, 7.41%, and 79.77%, respectively. The ^•OH exposure of EP and EF oxidation was calculated, confirming that ^•OH exposure was approximately 22.45-fold higher using FeS₂-modified CF. Finally, the 19 intermediates formed by CBZ degradation were identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Accordingly, four CBZ degradation pathways were proposed. ECOSAR software was used to assess the ecotoxicity of intermediates toward fish, daphnia, and green algae, showing that this novel EF oxidation process showed good toxicity reduction performance. A prolonged EF retention time was proposed to be necessary to obtain clean and safe water, even if the targeted compound was removed at an earlier time.

Cobalt oxide/copper bismuth oxide/samarium vanadate (Co3O4/CuBi2O4/SmVO4) dual Z-scheme heterostructured photocatalyst with high charge-transfer efficiency: Enhanced carbamazepine degradation under visible light irradiation

Herein, a dual Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst consisting of Co₃O₄, CuBi₂O₄, and SmVO₄ for carbamazepine (CBZ) degradation was synthesised and characterised by XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis DRS, XPS, FE-SEM, and TEM. The reduction in electron-hole recombination was evaluated by PL, LSV, and EIS analysis. The heterojunction, Co₃O₄/CuBi₂O₄/SmVO₄ (CCBSV) showed enhanced photocatalytic activity of 76.1% ± 3.81 CBZ degradation under visible light irradiation, ascribed to the improved interfacial contact, visible light capturing ability, and enhanced electron-hole separation and transportation through the formation of Z-scheme heterojunction. The formation of dual Z-scheme was confirmed by active radical experiments and XPS analysis that helped to prose the mechanism of degradation. The catalyst showed sustained stability after 4 cycles of reuse. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) was employed to identify the degradation by-products of CBZ, and a possible mechanistic degradation pathway was proposed. This study provided an insight into the development of efficient dual Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for remediation of CBZ which can be extended to other organic pollutants.

Optimization of photo-electro/Persulfate/nZVI process on 2-4 Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid degradation via central composite design: a novel combination of advanced oxidation process

2-4 Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid is most publicly applied from chlorinated phenoxy acids herbicides. In this research, central composite design for optimization of photo-Elecro/persulfate/nZVI process to degradation and mineralization of this herbicide in aqueous solution to environment protection was applied. The initial pH (2-4), persulfate anion concentration (0.25-0.5 mg/L), direct electrical (0.5-1 A), herbicide concentration (50-100 mg/l), nZVI dose (0.05-1 mg/L), and reaction time (50-100 mg/l) are independent variables optimized. Also, the synergist effect, COD and TOC removal, the effect of radical scavengers, and by-products were investigated. The fitting of the model, suggested a quadratic model (R2 = 0.9926). F-value and P value of ANOVA were 719.81 and 0.0001 respectivelty. After optimizing the PEP/nZVI process, the proposed optimal conditions was pH = 3.4, persulfate concentration equal to 0.49 mg/l, in 1 A direct current, nZVI dose equal to 0.1 mg/l, in 50.05 mg/l herbicide concentration as an initial concentration, in 80 min reaction time. The theoretical and actual removal was evaluated 91.99% and 92%, respectively. In the optimum condition, 45.4% synergist effect indicated. 78.3% and 66.5% of initial COD and TOC were decreased. 39.02% of Cl ion was released form 2,4-D structure. The presence of radical scavengers have an adverse impact on the performance of process. The highest amount of radical scavenging was in methanol, tert-butyl alcohol and bicarbonate ions at concentrations at 50 mM/l. The kinetic data was fitted via pseudo-first-order reaction (R2 = 0.99).The direct and indirect oxidation process lead to formation of several organic by-products which were confirmed by GC-MS analysis.