Secondary Hospital Wastewater Detoxification and Disinfection by Advanced Oxidation Processes

Abstract

Secondary hospital wastewater treatment was investigated as an alternative to detoxification and disinfection after anaerobic digestion in a hospital located in southern Brazil. Tertiary and secondary effluents were assessed by general parameters. The use of advanced oxidation processes (UV/O3 and UV/TiO2/O3) showed potential capacity for disinfection and detoxification of wastewater effluents. The UV/TiO2/O3 method yielded the best results, decreasing toxicity of EC50 = 65 to nontoxic levels, also reducing MPN/100ml of 1.1 x 10(6) to values less than 2 and increasing wastewater biodegradability. The low energetic consumption of the proposed UV/TiO2/O3 method can be considered operationally advantageous.

Selection Criteria for Water Disinfection Techniques in Agricultural Practices

“…There has been considerable research in the field of advanced oxidation processes for oxidation of organic contaminants in water treatment, but also for inactivation of pathogens (Machado et al, 2007;Gerrity et al, 2009;Chong et al, 2010). For disinfection purposes, UV has been used for photolysis of hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid or ozone, thus generating free radicals (Bianchini et al 2002;Koivunen and Heinonen-Tanski, 2005a;Jung et al 2008).…”

What have we learned from worldwide experiences on the management and treatment of hospital effluent? — An overview and a discussion on perspectives

“…An MBR is not a satisfactory treatment process for the removal of AOX: in the permeate, AOXs occur in the range of 0.56-0.85 mg/L (Beier et al, 2011;McArdell et al, 2011) and further advanced treatment is necessary to reduce their content in the final effluent (Machado et al, 2007).…”

Adsorption of fexofenadine and diphenhydramine on dehydrated and activated carbons from date palm leaflets

“…Pharmaceuticals, in general, are removed from aquatic environment via Fenton oxidation, [12] ozonation and photo-ozonation, [3] and photodegradation. [13] Although these methods proved to be efficient in the removal of organic compounds and pharmaceuticals, they are costly and consume high energy [14] in addition of being obstructed in the presence of suspended organic particles.…”

“…[1,2] Hospital wastewater are usually loaded with pharmaceuticals, microorganisms, heavy metals, radionuclides, disinfectants, dyes, reagents, and drug metabolites which are considered a threat to the environment and public health. [3] Pharmaceuticals are released in the environment via different sources such as hospitals, medical institutions, health care facilities, pharmaceutical manufactures and municipal wastewater. In addition, unused or expired medications are commonly disposed in hospital drains or via a wrong disposal practice of unused or expired drugs through the sink or toilets.…”

“…[4] Many of hospital wastewater constituents are considered persistent in the environment and they bypass conventional wastewater treatments and are becoming ubiquitous in the environment. [3,5] Ternes, 1998, identified over 30 drugs in the effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants in Germany. [6] Pharmaceuticals can also accumulate in soils when drug-contaminated sludge was utilised as fertiliser.…”