title: Economic evaluation of a combined photo-Fenton/MBR process using pesticides as model pollutant. Factors affecting costs.
abstract: The aim of this paper is to carry out an economic assessment on a solar photo-Fenton/MBR combined process to treat industrial ecotoxic wastewater. This study focuses on the impact of the contamination present in wastewater, the photochemical oxidation, the use of an MBR as biological process and the plant size on operating and amortization costs. As example of ecotoxic pollutant, a mixture of five commercial pesticides commonly used in the Mediterranean area has been used, ranging from 500 mg/L to 50mg/L, expressed as dissolved organic carbon concentration. The economic evaluation shows that (i) the increase in pollution load does not always involve an increase in photo-Fenton costs because they also depend on organic matter mineralization; (ii) the use of an MBR process permits lower photochemical oxidation requirements than other biological treatments, resulting in approximately 20% photo-Fenton cost reduction for highly polluted wastewater; (iii) when pollution load decreases, the contribution of reactant consumption to the photo-Fenton process costs increase with regard to amortization costs; (iv) 30% total cost reduction can be gained treating higher daily volumes, obtaining competitive costs that vary from 1.1-1.9 €/m(3), depending on the pollution load.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain. jsanchez@ual.es
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sánchez Pérez
authors.forename: Isabel María
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Román Sánchez
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carra
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cabrera Reina
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Casas López
authors.forename: Sixto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malato
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D010575:Pesticides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical