Pharmaceuticals are emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment threatening natural ecosystem (e.g., drug resistant-bacteria) and human health. Conventional water treatment technologies show limited removal of pharmaceutical compounds, therefore, there is a need for development of treatment technologies to efficiently treat these contaminants. Recently, a growing attention has been given to better utilization of visible light, which is a major sunlight component, for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and pharmaceuticals in the aquatic system. Furthermore, light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the light source showed great promise as they have several advantages compared to traditional light source, including low energy consumption, high energy conversion and long-life span. However, only limited studies are available for investigating the applicability of visible-LED-based photocatalytic treatment technology for pharmaceutical compounds. Using tungsten trioxide (WO3) as a representative catalyst, this study has assessed the overall performance of visible-LED-based photocatalytic technology for degradation of 14 pharmaceuticals (i.e., acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen, iopromide, mefenamic acid, metoprolol, naproxen, propranolol, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole) commonly found in South Korean water sources. Removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals were quantified in deionized water and natural water conditions and overall energy consumption of the technology was calculated. The role of different reactive oxidation species (ROS) such as hydroxyl radical and superoxide anion radical were also identified using their scavengers, tert-butanol and para-benzoquinone. The effects of alkalinity and natural organic matter as inhibitors and radical scavengers were also investigated.

Investigation of applicability of visible-LED-based photocatalytic technology for removal of 14 pharmaceuticals in natural water conditions using WO3 catalyst

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.