Wastewater reuse is becoming a recognized alternative to augment dwindling freshwater sources due to population increase and climate change. A major concern in reusing wastewater is the presence of pharmaceuticals that still remain even after extensive treatment. A complete understanding of low-dose, long-term, exposure to these chemicals has yet to be achieved, but many of these pharmaceuticals are biologically active at very low concentrations. Unfortunately, it is difficult to quantitatively remove many of these pharmaceuticals due to the much higher chemical concentration of other species, such as organic matter and carbonate.  Therefore, the use of radical-based treatment processes has become an active approach of interest for removal of trace amounts of biologically active chemicals from wastewater due to their ability to destroy complex organic molecules in a quantifiable manner. These processes are formally known as Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs).  AOPs have been demonstrated to eliminate trace amounts of pharmaceuticals that remain in treated wastewater. However, these studies do not provide full insight into the products of the respective oxidative reactions. Furthermore, these studies lack an understanding of the mechanism behind the reactions of interest. In order to successfully optimize and scale-up an AOP for use in a wastewater treatment plant, a complete understanding of the chemistry behind each process is required. The present study reports on absolute reaction rate constants, radical reaction efficiencies and the important products of these treatments.

Characterization of products and reaction efficiencies of Advanced Oxidation Process treatment of beta-lactam antibiotics

247th National Meeting (2014)

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