Solar photocatalytic oxidation of recalcitrant natural metabolic by-products of amoxicillin biodegradation

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2014

Authors

João H. O. S. Pereira (Author) FEUP; Ana C. Reis (Author) FEUP; Vera Homem (Author) FEUP; José A. Silva (Author) FEUP; Arminda Alves (Author) FEUP; Maria T. Borges (Author) FCUP; Rui A. R. Boaventura (Author) FEUP; Vítor J. P. Vilar (Author) FEUP; Olga C. Nunes (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Water Research

Vol. 65

Pages: 307-320

ISSN: 0043-1354

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 34 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 36 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Environmental engineering

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Technology > Biotecnology > Downstream processing ; Technological sciences > Engineering > Process engineering > Bioprocess engineering ; Technological sciences > Engineering > Chemical engineering ; Natural sciences > Environmental science > Water science > Wastewater treatment ; Technological sciences > Technology > Chemical technology > Biochemical technology

Associated Projects

PTDC/AAC-AMB/113091/2009 - Eliminação de micropoluentes com actividade antimicrobiana de águas residuais

PP-IJUP-2011-180 - AQUAPHOTOBIO – Solar Photocatalytic Degradation of Antibiotics: Chemical, Ecotoxicological and Biodegradability Assessment

LA 20 - PROJECTO ESTRATÉGICO - LA 20 - 2013-2014

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-009-RFR

DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.07.037

Abstract (EN): The contamination of the aquatic environment by non-metabolized and metabolized antibiotic residues has brought the necessity of alternative treatment steps to current water decontamination technologies. This work assessed the feasibility of using a multi-stage treatment system for amoxicillin (AMX) spiked solutions combining: i) a biological treatment process using an enriched culture to metabolize AMX, with ii) a solar photocatalytic system to achieve the removal of the metabolized transformation products (TPs) identified via LC-MS, recalcitrant to further biological degradation. Firstly, a mixed culture (MC) was obtained through the enrichment of an activated sludge sample collected in an urban wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Secondly, different aqueous matrices spiked with AMX were treated with the MC and the metabolic transformation products were identified. Thirdly, the efficiency of two solar assisted photocatalytic processes (TiO2/UV or Fe3+/Oxalate/H2O2/UV-Vis) was assessed in the degradation of the obtained TPs using a lab-scale prototype photoreactor equipped with a compound parabolic collector (CPC). Highest AMX specific biodegradation rates were obtained in buffer and urban wastewater (WW) media (0.10 +/- 0.01 and 0.13 +/- 0.07 g(AMX) g(biomass)(-1) h(-1), respectively). The resulting TPs, which no longer presented antibacterial activity, were identified as amoxicilloic acid (m/ z = 384). The performance of the Fe3+/Oxalate/H2O2/UV-Vis system in the removal of the TPs from WW medium was superior to the TiO2/UV process (TPs no longer detected after 40 min (Q(UV) = 2.6 kJ L-1), against incomplete TPs removal after 240 mm (Q(UV) = 14.9 kJ L-1), respectively).

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 14