Philosophiae Doctor - PhDPersistent organic pollutants (POPs) are very tenacious wastewater contaminants with negative
impact on the ecosystem. The two major sources of POPs are wastewater from textile industries
and pharmaceutical industries. They are known for their recalcitrance and circumvention of
nearly all the known wastewater treatment procedures. However, the wastewater treatment
methods which applied advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are documented for their
successful remediation of POPs. AOPs are a group of water treatment technologies which is
centered on the generation of OH radicals for the purpose of oxidizing recalcitrant organic
contaminants content of wastewater to their inert end products. Circumvention of the reported
demerits of AOPs such as low degradation efficiency, generation of toxic intermediates, massive
sludge production, high energy expenditure and operational cost can be done through the
application of the combined AOPs in the wastewater treatment procedure. The resultant
mineralisation of the POPs content of wastewater is due to the synergistic effect of the OH
radicals produced in the combined AOPs.
Hydrodynamic cavitation is the application of the pressure variation in a liquid flowing through
the venturi or orifice plates. This results in generation, growth, implosion and subsequent
production of OH radicals in the liquid matrix. The generated OH radical in the jet loop
hydrodynamic cavitation was applied as a form of advanced oxidation process in combination
with hydrogen peroxide, iron (II) oxides or the synthesized green nano zero valent iron (gnZVI)
for the treatment of simulated textile and pharmaceutical wastewater
