Classification of the degradability of 30 pharmaceuticals in water with ozone, UV and H2O2

Experiments were conducted to assess the degradability of 30 PPCPs, selected on the basis of consumption and environmental relevance, by O3 process, UV process and AOPs consisting of UV/ H2O2, O3/UV and O3/H2O2. A batch reactor with volume of 22L of water including the PPCPs was used. For UV process, combination of UV and H2O2 or O3 that can generate OH radicals was capable of degrading the PPCPs faster than UV radiation alone. On the other hand, O3 process and O3-based/UV-based AOPs could remove a variety of the PPCPs effectively, while some PPCPs such as 2-QCA, DEET and cyclophosphamide showed a relatively low degradability compared with the other PPCPs. However, further evaluation on formation of intermediate products resulting from the degradation of the parent PPCPs will be needed because DOC concentration was not decreased with lowered concentrations of the PPCPs.