Removal of microcontaminants from MWTP effluents by combination of membrane technologies and solar photo-Fenton at neutral pH

• Microcontaminant degradation by combined nanofiltration solar photo-Fenton.
• Photo-Fenton at neutral pH with Fe [(S,S)-ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (EDDS)] complex.
• Degradation took less than 12 min.
• Combined NF/solar photo-Fenton reduced H2O2 consumption and energy compared with direct photo-Fenton treatment.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare microcontaminant degradation of a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (MWTP) effluent by direct solar photo-Fenton treatment at neutral pH and a combined nanofiltration (NF)/solar photo-Fenton process at pilot plant scale. Photo-Fenton was run with Fe [(S,S)-ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (EDDS)] complex. The membrane pilot plant consisted of NF modules with a total surface area of 5.2 m2, and photo-Fenton was run in a solar pilot plant (total surface of solar collectors 3 m2, total volume of the plant 35 L) with an iron complexing agent at low iron (<0.2 mM) and H2O2 (<2 mM) concentrations. A QTRAP MS/MS system was used to evaluate micropollutant degradation (35 were evaluated, seven in concentrations over 1000 ng L−1) and >90% degradation took less than 12 min. It was demonstrated that the use of the combined NF/solar photo-Fenton process reduced required H2O2 consumption by 53% and energy by 67%, compared with direct photo-Fenton treatment of the same MWTP effluent.

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