Pharmaceutical removal from different water matrixes by Fenton process at near-neutral pH: Doehlert design and transformation products identification by UHPLC-QTOF MS using a purpose-built database

Magnetic MIL(Fe)-type MOF-derived N-doped nano-ZVI@C rods as heterogeneous catalyst for the electro-Fenton degradation of gemfibrozil in a complex aqueous matrix

“…Gemfibrozil solutions have been treated by conventional Fenton [54] and photo-Fenton [55] at pH 5.0, as well as by UVC and UVC/H2O2 [56]. Regarding the electrochemical AOPs, uniquely the performance of electro-peroxone [57] and electro-oxidation with electrogenerated H2O2…”

Photocatalytic Treatment of Pharmaceuticals in Real Hospital Wastewaters for Effluent Quality Amelioration

“…Table 6 summarizes the relevant analytical information concerning the metabolites/TPs identified in the three studied catalysts. Most of the compounds were present in the different treatment procedures, showing that similar reaction mechanisms occurred and in all cases low mass errors were observed (<5 ppm) [4].…”

“…However, their low formation during the process did not make it possible for their identification. Furthermore, it is worth noticing that in the studies where transformation products are suggested, usually only one drug is studied at high initial concentrations (normally in order of tens of mgL −1 ) [4]. In contrast, in the present study, real effluent samples were studied, therefore, the identification of TPs at very low concentrations was a challenge.…”

“…[2,3]. Some countries consider hospital effluent as industrial wastewater and because of its characteristics, it undergoes pre-treatment before being discharged into the urban sewage system [4]. However, conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not manufactured to treat water containing pharmaceuticals at trace levels and consequently, the applied treatments have been found to be ineffective to remove them [1,5].…”

“…Although pharmaceuticals in hospital effluents exist in low concentrations (may vary from ng L −1 to mg L −1 ), they might pose a potential threat to the ecology of the receiving environment, such as feminization of organisms, microbiological resistance or the accumulation of these compounds in soil, plants and animals [3,6,7]. The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment does not need to be persistent in order to cause negative effects, since the high degree of transformation or removal that they are able to incur can be overlapped by their continuous release into the environment [4]. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to treat the hospital effluents in order to avoid problems, such as the contamination and inhibition of biomass growth in conventional WWTPs [8].…”