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Treatment of hospital laundry wastewater by UV/H2O2 process

  • AOPs: Recent Advances to Overcome Barriers in the Treatment of Water, Wastewater and Air
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Abstract

Hospitals consume a large volume of water to carry out their activities and, hence, generate a large volume of effluent that is commonly discharged into the local sewage system without any treatment. Among the various sectors of healthcare facilities, the laundry is responsible for the majority of water consumption and generates a highly complex effluent. Although several advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are currently under investigation on the degradation of a variety of contaminants, few of them are based on real wastewater samples. In this paper, the UV/H2O2 AOP was evaluated on the treatment of a hospital laundry wastewater, after the application of a physicochemical pretreatment composed of coagulation-flocculation and anthracite filtration. For the UV/H2O2 process, a photoreactor equipped with a low-pressure UV-C lamp was used and the effects of initial pH and [H2O2]/chemical oxygen demand (COD) ratio on COD removal were investigated through a randomized factorial block design that considered the batches of effluent as blocks. The results indicated that the initial pH had no significant effect on the COD removal, and the process was favored by the increase in [H2O2]/COD ratio. Color and turbidity were satisfactorily reduced after the application of the physicochemical pretreatment, and COD was completely removed by the UV/H2O2 process under suitable conditions. The results of this study show that the UV/H2O2 AOP is a promising candidate for hospital laundry wastewater treatment and should be explored to enable wastewater reuse in the washing process.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Coordination for Enhancement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), an organization of the Brazilian federal government, for the financial support (scholarship) that enabled Jaqueline Pirão Zotesso to do this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790 – Bloco D90, CEP 87020-900, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Jaqueline Pirão Zotesso, Eneida Sala Cossich & Célia Regina Granhen Tavares

  2. Department of Statistics, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790 – Bloco D90, CEP 87020-900, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Vanderly Janeiro

Authors
  1. Jaqueline Pirão Zotesso
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  2. Eneida Sala Cossich
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  3. Vanderly Janeiro
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  4. Célia Regina Granhen Tavares
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Correspondence to Jaqueline Pirão Zotesso.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

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Zotesso, J.P., Cossich, E.S., Janeiro, V. et al. Treatment of hospital laundry wastewater by UV/H2O2 process. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 6278–6287 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6860-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6860-5

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