title: Treatment of real effluents from the pharmaceutical industry: A comparison between Fenton oxidation and conductive-diamond electro-oxidation.
abstract: Wastewater produced in pharmaceutical manufacturing plants (PMPs), especially the one coming from organic-synthesis facilities, is characterized by its large variability due to the wide range of solvents and chemical reagents used in the different stages of the production of medicines. Normally, the toxicity of the organic compounds prevent the utilization of biological processes and more powerful treatments are needed becoming advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) a valid alternative. In this work, the efficiency in abatement of pollution by Fenton oxidation (FO) and conductive-diamond electro-oxidation (CDEO) are compared in the treatment of 60 real effluents coming from different processes carried out in a pharmaceutical facility, using standardized tests. In 80% of the samples, CDEO was found to be more efficient than FO and in the remaining 20%, coagulation was found to exhibit a great significance in the COD abatement mechanism during FO, pointing out the effectiveness of the oxidation promoted by the electrochemical technology. Mean oxidation state of carbon was found to be a relevant parameter to understand the behavior of the oxidation technologies. It varied inversely proportional to efficiency in FO and it showed practically no influence in the case of CDEO.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Llanos
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain. Electronic address: cristina.saez@uclm.es.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sáez
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cañizares
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Edificio Enrique Costa Novella, Campus Universitario s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
mesh_terms: D018130:Diamond / Q000737:chemistry*; D004345:Drug Industry; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D018130:Diamond; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D007501:Iron
keywords: Conductive diamond electro-oxidation; Fenton oxidation; Pharmaceutical manufacturing process; Real industrial effluents; Wastewater