Abstract
In arid Mediterranean countries, such as Tunisia, wastewater often has high salinity, being an obstacle to the elimination of microcontaminants for the reuse of water in agriculture. In this paper, the photo-Fenton process in raceway pond reactors (RPRs) has been successfully applied to a simulated secondary effluent from a Tunisian urban wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), with high chloride load. A mixture of three contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) was used as model pollutants at 50 μg/L each (one antibiotic, sulfamethoxazole and two pesticides, pyrimicarb and imidacloprid). All the assays were conducted at neutral pH with 0.1 mM Fe(III):EDDS at 1:1 molar ratio. The effect of hydrogen peroxide initial concentration (20, 30, and 90 mg/L) on microcontaminant removal was studied. Different liquid depths (5 and 15 cm) were selected to assess the relationship between the microcontaminant removal and the volumetric rate of photon absorption (VRPA). Although the reaction rate was initially photo-limited, after a short reaction time of 15 min, the final yield (≈ 80% of CEC removal) was limited by the photo-degradation of the Fe(III):EDDS complex and excess H2O2 was found at all concentrations used. Therefore, treatment times below 15 min should be used. The treatment capacity was three times higher when the liquid depth was increased from 5 to 15 cm. For the first time, these results show that the operation of a 15 cm-deep RPR in continuous flow mode would be suitable for large-scale implementation of the solar photo-Fenton process.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arzate S, García Sánchez JL, Soriano Molina P, Casas López JL, Campos-Mañas MC, Agüera A, Sánchez Pérez JA (2017) Effect of residence time on micropollutant removal in WWTP secondary effluents by continuous solar photo-Fenton process in raceway pond reactors. Chem Eng J 316:1114–1121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.01.089
Carra I, García Sánchez JL, Casas Lopes JL, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2014a) Phenomenological study and application of the combined influence of iron concentration and irradiance on the photo-Fenton process to remove micropollutants. Sci Total Environ 478:123–132
Carra I, Santos-Juanes L, Gabriel Acién Fernández F, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2014b) New approach to solar photo-Fenton operation. Raceway ponds as tertiary treatment technology. J Hazard Mater 279:322–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.07.010
De la Obra I, Ponce-Robles L, Miralles-Cuevas S, Oller I, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2017) Microcontaminant removal in secondary effluents by solar photo-Fenton at circumneutral pH in raceway pond reactors. Catal Today 287:10–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2016.12.028
Freitas AM, Rivas G, Campos-Mañas MC, Casas López JL, Agüera A, Sánchez Pérez JA (2017) Ecotoxicity evaluation of a WWTP effluent treated by solar photo-Fenton at neutral pH in a raceway pond reactor. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24(2):1093–1104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7101-7
Gueymard C, SMARTS2 (1995) A simple model of the atmospheric radiative transfer of sunshine: algorithms and performance assessment. Rep. FSEC-PF-270-95, Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, USA
Haddaoui I, Mahjoub O, Mahjoub B, Boujelben A, Bella GD (2016) Occurrence and distribution of PAHs, PCBs, and chlorinated pesticides in Tunisian soil irrigated with treated waste water. Chemosphere 146:195–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.12.007
Huang W, Brigante M, Wu F, Hanna K, Mailhot G (2012) Development of a new homogenous photo-Fenton process using Fe(III)-EDDS complexes. J Photochem Photob A: Chem 239:17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2012.04.018
Klamerth N, Malato S, Agüera A, Fernández-Alba A, Mailhot G (2012) Treatment of municipal wastewater treatment plant effluents with modified photo-Fenton as a tertiary treatment for the degradation of micro pollutants and disinfection. Environ Sci Technol 46:2885–2892. https://doi.org/10.1021/es204112d
Li J, Mailhot G, Wu F, Deng N (2010) Photochemical efficiency of Fe(III)-EDDS complex: {radical dot}OH radical production and 17β-estradiol degradation. J Photochem Photob A: Chem 21:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2010.03.001
Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY (2016) Four billion people facing severe water scarcity. Sci Adv. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500323
Ministry of the environment and sustainable development, National Sanitation Office, List of approved pesticides in Tunisia 27/09/2016.
Miralles-Cuevas S, Oller I, Sánchez Pérez JA, Malato S (2014) Application of solar photo-Fenton at circumneutral pH to nanofiltration concentrates for removal of pharmaceuticals in MWTP effluents. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:846–855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2871-2
Miralles-Cuevas S, Oller I, Agüera A, Ponce-Robles L, Sánchez Pérez JA, Malato S (2015) Removal of microcontaminants from MWTP effluents by combination of membrane technologies and solar photo-Fenton at neutral pH. Catal Today 252:78–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2014.11.015
Rivas G, Carra I, García Sánchez JL, Casas López JL, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2015) Modelling of the operation of raceway pond reactors for micropollutant removal by solar photo-Fenton as a function of photon absorption. Appl Catal B Environ 178:210–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.09.015
Rivas-Ibáñez G, Bittner M, Toušová Z, Campos-Mañas MC, Agüera A, Casas López JL, Sánchez Pérez JA, Hilscherová K (2017) Does micropollutant removal by solar photo-Fenton reduce ecotoxicity in municipal wastewater? A comprehensive study at pilot scale open reactors. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 92:2114–2122. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5212
Soriano-Molina P, García Sánchez JL, Malato S, Pérez-Estrada LA, Sánchez Pérez JA (2018a) Effect of volumetric rate of photon absorption on the kinetics of micropollutant removal by solar photo-Fenton with Fe3+-EDDS at neutral pH. Chem Eng J 331:84–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.08.096
Soriano-Molina P, García Sánchez JL, Alfano OM, Conte LO, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2018b) Mechanistic modeling of solar photo-Fenton process with Fe3+-EDDS at neutral pH. Appl Catal B Environ 233:234–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.04.005
Soriano-Molina P, Plaza-Bolaños P, Lorenzo A, Agüera A, García Sánchez JL, Malato S, Sánchez Pérez JA (2019) Assessment of solar raceway pond reactors form removal of contaminants of emerging concern by photo-Fenton at circumneutral pH from very different municipal wastewater effluents. Chem Eng J 366:141–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.02.074
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Ministry for Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spanish Government) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), project CTQ2016-78255-R. P. Soriano-Molina would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for her FPU scholarship (AP2014/01030). Sara Miralles-Cuevas acknowledges the MINECO by the grant Juan de la Cierva en Formación No. FJCI-2016-28965.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Vítor Pais Vilar
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mejri, A., Soriano-Molina, P., Miralles-Cuevas, S. et al. Effect of liquid depth on microcontaminant removal by solar photo-Fenton with Fe(III):EDDS at neutral pH in high salinity wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 28071–28079 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06042-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06042-9