Iranian Journal of

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Hadi M, Solaimany Aminabad M, Amiri M, Arjipour M. Optimization of UV/H2O2/TiO2 process for the treatment of hospital effluent . ijhe 2018; 11 (3) :293-306
URL: http://ijhe.tums.ac.ir/article-1-6139-en.html

Background and Objective: Treatment of hospital wastewaters has an important role in reducing the discharge of organics and pharmaceutical compounds into aquatic environments. Nowadays, advanced oxidation processes were extensively used for the removal of organic compounds from treated effluents. The study aimed to examine organic compounds removal from real treated effluent of a hospital treatment plant using a lab scale UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂ process by optimizing the process.
Materials and Methods: The effluent characteristics including COD, TOC and DOC were measured and recorded. A hybrid advanced oxidation process (UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂) was used for the removal of organic compounds. The experiments were designed using surface response methodology (RSM). The effects of the independent factors including pH, duration of UV irradiation, H₂O₂ and TiO₂ concentrations on COD, TOC, DOC and the approximate cost of treatment were assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: The optimal condition was 7.2 for pH, 50 mg/L for H₂O₂, 100 mg/L for TiO₂ and 19.65 min for irradiation time. This condition provided the maximum removal percentage for organic compounds with a minimum cost. The removal efficiency for TOC, DOC and COD were 63.9, 52.9, and 64.7%, respectively. The treatment cost was approximated to be $ 0.71 per one liter of the effluent.
Conclusion: Irradiation and H₂O₂ concentration had the greatest impact on the cost of the treatment. UV/H₂O₂/TiO₂ process seems to be an expensive process for tertiary treatment of wastewater. However, further investigations are required to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the process for a full scale operation.