Practical application of UVOX Redox® for pharmaceutical removal from liquid digestate in two biogas plants

Practical application of UVOX Redox® for pharmaceutical removal from liquid digestate in two biogas plants

Moradi, N. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; IHE Delft Institute for Water Education)
Lopez Vazquez, C.M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; IHE Delft Institute for Water Education)
Hernandez, Hector Garcia (IHE Delft Institute for Water Education)
Proskynitopoulou, Vera (Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas)
Vouros, Anastasios (Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas)
Garagounis, Ioannis (Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas)
Lorentzou, Souzana (Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas)
Brdjanovic, Damir (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; IHE Delft Institute for Water Education)
van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology)

2024

In recent decades, there has been a growing focus on the management and valorization of digestate, primarily driven by its nutrient-rich composition, which positions it as a promising resource for biofertilizer production. However, several countries still restrict the direct application of digestate due to its potential environmental hazard, which includes the presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as pharmaceuticals. This paper explores the efficacy of a novel UV/ozone-based technology, UVOX Redox®, in removing prevalent pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), from the digestate of two biogas plants. In both cases, UVOX showed to be a feasible solution for pharmaceutical removal from digestate. Addition of hydrogen peroxide further increased the process efficiency, achieving > 90% removal of all compounds within an hour. The energy per order (E_EO) value for all the studied pharmaceuticals was less than the reported median E_EO for O₃ and UV treatment, showcasing notable energy efficiency in UVOX technology. Moreover, the research highlights that the presence of ions augments the removal efficiency when applying the UVOX technology. In addition, the research results revealed a significant correlation between the effectiveness of the UVOX technology and UV transmittance, with R² exceeding 90% for pharmaceuticals and 75% for Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC). This finding suggests that UV transmittance can serve as a viable surrogate method for implementing this advanced oxidation process in practical applications.

Liquid digestate
Pharmaceuticals
Surrogate method
UVOX Redox®

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:803e316f-61ff-4ae7-9cf7-7cad5bb369aa

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2023.103473

Environmental Technology and Innovation, 33

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 N. Moradi, C.M. Lopez Vazquez, Hector Garcia Hernandez, Vera Proskynitopoulou, Anastasios Vouros, Ioannis Garagounis, Souzana Lorentzou, Damir Brdjanovic, Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht, More Authors