Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Methods for Degradation of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products Wastewater Effluent

The wide spread presence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in natural aquatic environment has recently received both public awareness and extensive scientific interest due to the potential hazardous effect on man and ecological system. Avoiding consumption of these pollutants is surprisingly unlikely, since they are considered medically essential in improving our quality of life. Up to date, the environmental fate, transportation and transformation of these PPCPs is still predominantly unknown. Besides, the extensive and frequent detection of PPCPs in aquatic environments requires the development of highly efficient, economic and environment-friendly method for their elimination. The current conventional technologies for their treatment in wastewater is based on non-degradative separation/isolation and degradative transformation methods. Chemical methods such as chlorination provide access for wastewater disinfection, while biodegradation methods are utilized for the removal of toxic pollutants. However, the ineffectiveness of conventional wastewater treatment in destroying many toxic emerging organic pollutants has spearheaded the quest for more powerful methods. Recently, electrochemical based Advanced Oxidation Processes (EAOPs) have been investigated as alternatives and advanced methods in wastewater treatment for efficient degradation of a wide range of toxic organic pollutants including PPCPs. This is done through direct/ indirect oxidation by means of in situ generated oxidants from the accompanied electrochemical reaction, solar or direct sunlight. Moreover, EAOPs have been employed for pathogen inactivation in wastewater and drinking water disinfection applications. This project is therefore aimed at the design and development of efficient and cost effective electrochemical-based degradation methods for wastewater treatment using novel functionalized electrodes as anodes for pure Anodic Oxidation (AO) process and mediated AO process, without/ with coupling of such AO process with other EAOPs such as Fenton, Photo-Fenton and Solar-Fenton processes, for effective degradation of PPCPs in wastewater effluent.