Degradation of common pharmaceuticals and personal care products in mixed solutions by advanced oxidation techniques

Widespread detection of pharmaceutical compounds in water environment has been a serious concern recently, while conventional sewage treatments are ineffective for their elimination. But, advanced oxidation techniques are very promising to remove varieties of organic contaminants in water. This research aims to elucidate oxidation potentials of sixteen commonly used pharmaceutical compounds in mixed solutions by seven advanced oxidation techniques in laboratory batch experiments. The removal profiles exhibited four distinct patterns: a) easily degradable by all seven techniques, b) not easily degradable by all seven techniques, c) easily degradable by ozone-based techniques, but not by ultraviolet radiation-based techniques and d) easily degradable by ultraviolet radiation-based techniques, but not by ozone-based techniques. Ozone-based techniques rather than ultraviolet radiation-based techniques were very powerful for simultaneous removal of the compounds efficiently. Moreover, ozonation combined with ultraviolet radiation was the most appropriate technique for simultaneous removal of the tested compounds efficiently. Increased ozone dissolution and decomposition with ozone-based techniques did not always enhance the compounds’ removal. Physicochemical properties of the compounds and solution pH also presumably played an important role on the removal which merits further attention.