Best practices in chemical analysis of pharmaceuticals in the environment

Education Leaflet Project MORPHEUS 2017–201

Advanced treatment technologies for the removal of pharmaceutical substances in WWTPs

Education leafletMORPHEUS 2017–201

Best practices in chemical analysis of pharmaceuticals in the environment

Education Leaflet Project MORPHEUS 2017–201

Kinetics of the Organic Compounds and Ammonium Nitrogen Electrochemical Oxidation in Landfill Leachates at Boron-Doped Diamond Anodes

Electrochemical oxidation (EO) of organic compounds and ammonium in the complex matrix of landfill leachates (LLs) was investigated using three different boron-doped diamond electrodes produced on silicon substrate (BDD/Si)(levels of boron doping [B]/[C] = 500, 10,000, and 15,000 ppm—0.5 k; 10 k, and 15 k, respectively) during 8-h tests. The LLs were collected from an old landfill in the Pomerania region (Northern Poland) and were characterized by a high concentration of N-NH4+ (2069 ± 103 mg·L−1), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (3608 ± 123 mg·L−1), high salinity (2690 ± 70 mg Cl−·L−1, 1353 ± 70 mg SO42−·L−1), and poor biodegradability. The experiments revealed that electrochemical oxidation of LLs using BDD 0.5 k and current density (j) = 100 mA·cm−2 was the most effective amongst those tested (C8h/C0: COD = 0.09 ± 0.14 mg·L−1, N-NH4+ = 0.39 ± 0.05 mg·L−1). COD removal fits the model of pseudo-first-order reactions and N-NH4+ removal in most cases follows second-order kinetics. The double increase in biodegradability index—to 0.22 ± 0.05 (BDD 0.5 k, j = 50 mA·cm−2) shows the potential application of EO prior biological treatment. Despite EO still being an energy consuming process, optimum conditions (COD removal > 70%) might be achieved after 4 h of treatment with an energy consumption of 200 kW·m−3 (BDD 0.5 k, j = 100 mA·cm−2)