Innovative light-driven chemical/catalytic reactors towards contaminants of emerging concern mitigation: A review

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Jonathan C. Espíndola (Author) Other; Vítor J. P. Vilar (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Chemical Engineering Journal

Vol. 394

Pages: 1-23

ISSN: 1385-8947

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus - 12 Citations

Associated Projects

0725_NOR_WATER_1_P - Poluentes emergentes nas águas da Galiza-Norte de Portugal: novas ferramentas para gestão de risco

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-YCR

DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.124865

Abstract (EN): Urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are among the major sources of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) release to surface water. This is mainly associated with the low performance of conventional technologies (e.g. activated sludge, sand filtration and UV disinfection processes) for the removal of residual amounts (ng L−1–μg L−1) of CECs. In this review, a list of CECs commonly detected in the aquatic environments is presented. Light-driven chemical/catalytic processes for CECs removal, namely UV/oxidant and photocatalysis, are presented with discussion of their process, advantages, drawbacks, and the main attainments. In this context, process intensification has been gaining high relevance for wastewater treatment purposes due to its potential to overcome the main treatment limitations. Accordingly, an overview of advances to overcome the limitations in light-driven chemical/catalytic processes for CECs mitigation was carried out, focusing mainly on the design of novel reactors and devices. Some aspects related to reactor configuration, removal mechanism, devices applied, illumination system, comparison criteria, and catalyst immobilization through implementation of novel reactors designs are also discussed. Regarding the reactor design, several devices exhibit a satisfactory mass transfer due to a large surface-to-volume ratio or enhanced mixing conditions. However, improvements in photon transfer are still the biggest challenge to be overcome. The irradiation of the entire reaction solution and/or catalyst surface has shown to be challenging in many reactor configurations. Nevertheless, the reactor design and treatment process to be applied for CECs removal must be selected according to the site-specific conditions, in order to accomplish CECs mitigation and attain the best reactor performance. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 23