Removal of carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin and ibuprofen in real urban wastewater by using light-driven advanced oxidation processes

This study focuses on the use of advanced oxidation processes as a tertiary treatment in wastewater treatment plants to degrade contaminants of emerging concern at the natural pH of the biologically treated wastewater. Different peroxide dosages and initial concentrations of a mix of three pharmaceuticals commonly present in wastewater (carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin and ibuprofen) were tested in a batch photoreactor. The addition of Fe2+ and TiO2 as catalysts was also tested with the aim of improving the degradation rate of the pharmaceuticals. Among the contaminants tested, ciprofloxacin was the pollutant that showed the best degradation. It was completely removed from water after 20 min of treatment under any of the experimental conditions assessed. High degradation percentages, between 89.83 and 100%, were achieved for ibuprofen, while carbamazepine shows the lowest degradation, ranging from 80.14 to 100%. In terms of global efficiency, a complete degradation was achieved when the concentration of the tested contaminants was similar to current concentration levels in urban wastewater effluents. The addition of the catalysts did not significantly improve the degradation rates.