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In situ reactive oxygen species production for tertiary wastewater treatment

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Abstract

The goal of this research was to develop a new approach for tertiary water treatment, particularly disinfection and removal of refractory organic compounds, without adding any chemical. Hydrogen peroxide can indeed be produced from dissolved oxygen owing to electrochemical processes. Using various current intensities (1.0 to 4.0 A), it was possible to in situ produce relatively high concentration of H2O2 with a specific production rate of 0.05 × 10−5 M/min/A. Likewise, by using ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy method, it was shown that other reactive oxygen species (ROS) including HO* radical and O3 could be simultaneously formed during electrolysis. The ROS concentration passed from 0.45 × 10−5 M after 20 min of electrolysis to a concentration of 2.87 × 10−5 M after 100 min of electrolysis. The disinfection and the organic matter removal were relatively high during the tertiary treatment of municipal and domestic wastewaters. More than 90 % of organic compounds (chemical oxygen demand) can be removed, whereas 99 % of faecal coliform abatement can be reached. Likewise, the process was also effective in removing turbidity (more than 90 % of turbidity was removed) so that the effluent became more and more transparent.

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Abbreviations

CF:

Carbon felt

GF:

Graphite felt

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

RNO:

p-Nitrosodimethylaniline

DWW:

Domestic wastewater

MWW:

Municipal wastewater

SS:

Suspended solids

FC:

Faecal coliform

C:

Concentration of RNO at time t

C 0 :

Initial concentration of RNO

k R :

RNO decomposition rate apparent constant

N 0 :

Initial concentration of faecal coliform

N t :

Concentration of faecal coliforms at time t

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Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks are extended to the National Sciences, Engineering Research Council of Canada and Premier Tech Ltée for their financial to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-Eau Terre et Environnement), Université du Quebec, 490 rue de la Couronne, Quebec, QC, Canada, G1K 9A9

    Léa Guitaya, Patrick Drogui & Jean François Blais

Authors
  1. Léa Guitaya
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  2. Patrick Drogui
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  3. Jean François Blais
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Drogui.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

Electronic supplementary material

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Fig. SM1

Influence of recycling flow rate on hydrogen peroxide production; CF cathode electrode; I = 3.0 A (DOCX 46 kb)

Fig. SM2

Kinetic study of bleaching of RNO using CF cathode electrode; I = 1.0A; Q R = 2.0 L min−1 (DOCX 31 kb)

Fig. SM3

Turbidity removal (municipal wastewater effluent); 12.7 ± 0.2 NTU initial turbidity; CF cathode electrode; Q R = 2.0 L min−1 (DOCX 51 kb)

Fig. SM4

Turbidity removal (domestic wastewater effluent); 52 ± 3 NTU initial turbidity; CF cathode electrode; Q R = 2.0 L min−1 (DOCX 52 kb)

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Guitaya, L., Drogui, P. & Blais, J.F. In situ reactive oxygen species production for tertiary wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 7025–7036 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3907-3

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