Assessment and comparison of ozonation and fenton oxidation in removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from aqueous systems.

Over the past few years, pharmaceuticals are considered as an emerging environmental problem due to their continuous input and persistence to the aquatic ecosystem even at low concentrations. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are technologies based on the intermediacy of hydroxyl and other radicals to oxidize recalcitrant, toxic and non-biodegradable compounds. Ozonation is one of the oldest oxidation methods and Fenton oxidation is one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). In this paper, the effectiveness of Ozonation and Fenton oxidation in removal of pharmaceutical compounds from aqueous systems are assessed and compared. Ozonation is the oxidation process most studied, gives the best expectative to be applied with successful results Ozonation of wastewater effluent is not expensive but rather energy intensive and increases the energy demand. Use of ferrous or ferric salts in Fenton oxidation usually suffers two major drawbacks associated with (a) the narrow pH range of operation to avoid the formation and subsequent precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides and (b) the need to recover dissolved ions from the treated solution. Fenton systems are easy to handle and operate for industrial effluent treatment .Both of methods is more effective in presence of light irradiation (e.g., UV). With combination of other process (e.g., Biological process) as pretreatment, Ozonation and Fenton oxidation have best results for removal of pharmaceutical compounds.

Keywords:

AOP , EDCs , Fenton Oxidation , Ozonation , PPCPs