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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393074
Research Project: Increased Water Security through Safe Reuse of Reclaimed Water

Location: Water Management and Conservation Research

Title: Treatment of emerging contaminants in simulated wastewater via tandem photo-Fenton-like reaction and nutrient recovery

Author
item SILVA, MANOJ - Lehigh University
item EISA, MOHAMED - Lehigh University
item RAGAUSKAITE, DOVILE - Lehigh University
item MCMINN, MADISON - Northeastern University
item TIAN, ZHENYU - Northeastern University
item Williams, Clinton
item Knopf, Allan
item ZHANG, LIHUA - Brookhaven National Laboratory
item BALTRUSAITIS, JONAS - Lehigh University

Submitted to: Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/30/2022
Publication Date: 12/9/2023
Citation: Silva, M., Eisa, M., Ragauskaite, D., Mcminn, M.H., Tian, Z., Williams, C.F., Knopf, A.L., Zhang, L., Baltrusaitis, J. 2023. Treatment of emerging contaminants in simulated wastewater via tandem photo-Fenton-like reaction and nutrient recovery. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 9(2):508-522. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00209D.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00209D

Interpretive Summary: Reclaimed wastewater contains significant amounts of nutrients that can be recovered for use as fertilizer. Nutrient recovery in the form of struvite ( NH4MgPO4·6H2O) has shown promise as a fertilizer. In addition, wastewater can contain biologically active organic contaminants such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals that can be incorporated into the struvite crystals and introduced to the environment. A coupled two step process was developed and evaluated that removes organic contaminants from wastewater prior to struvite formation. The use of an advanced oxidation (AO) process using photo-Fenton-like MgO nanoparticle catalyst was shown to oxidize the pesticide paraoxon and the antibiotic tetracycline from simulated wastewater prior to struvite formation. Struvite produced without the AO step had 13% of paraoxon and 37% of tetracycline incorporated into the struvite crystal structure. Using the AO step coupled to struvite formation resulted in struvite crystals with paraoxon and tetracycline concentrations below detection limits.

Technical Abstract: A tandem strategy that recovers NH4+ and PO43- nutrients from simulated wastewater in a solid form after the Fenton oxidation of emerging organic contaminants was developed. Mesoporous Cu-MgO nanoparticles were used as a photo-Fenton-like catalyst to oxidize paraoxon and tetracycline present in nutrient-rich simulated wastewater to prevent their incorporation into the struvite product. Mesoporous MgO nanoparticles were subsequently used as the Mg-source for the struvite crystallization due to the fast intraparticle diffusion and adsorption kinetics facilitated by their porosity and the high surface area. Without Fenton oxidation, 13% of paraoxon and 37% of tetracycline were incorporated into the struvite, demonstrating the clear need for the removal of hazardous contaminants before struvite synthesis. Both organic contaminants were eliminated using the Fenton oxidation reaction, with some minor non-toxic intermediate products formed. The product formed after the tandem process was shown by XRD and Raman spectroscopy to be struvite free of the emerging organic contaminants.