The Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Wastewater by Wet-Air Oxidation

<p>The ubiquitous occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in aquatic environments has raised concerns about potential adverse effects on aquatic ecology and human health. Certain pharmaceuticals have recently become a major focus of research to better understand the routes and persistence of these compounds once they enter into aquatic system.</p> <p>In this research, two model compounds were selected to represent pharmaceuticals that have been identified by recent research as being persistent; specifically, these compounds were trimethoprim (TMP, a basic antibiotic) and gemfibrozil (GEM, an acidic lipid regulator). Treatment of synthetic wastewater that contained these drugs was accomplished using wet-air oxidation (WAO). Pre- and post-treatment drug concentrations were determined by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The influences of different operational conditions on removal efficiency of the drugs by WAO were evaluated, namely reaction time, initial drug concentration, oxygen concentration, and the amount and composition of additional organic matter used during WAO. The optimum removal efficiencies were found to be 91.9 % for TMP and 95.5 % for GEM.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Sun, Miao

Contributors dc:contributor

• Keith E. Miller, Ph.D.
• Michael Kerwin
• Martin Margittai
• Brian J. Majestic

• Gemfibrozil
• Trimethoprim
• VTR
• Vertical tube reactor
• Wastewater
• Wet-air oxidation
• Chemistry
• Water Resource Management

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/936

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1935