Emerging Contaminants Decontamination of WWTP Effluents by BDD Anodic Oxidation: A Way towards Its Regeneration

Electrochemical oxidation using a boron-doped diamond anode (EO-BDD) was tested to remove emerging contaminants commonly present in wastewater treatment plant effluents (WWTPe). The main objective of the work was the regeneration of this water for its possible reuse in high-quality demanding uses. In the first part of the work, we investigated the potential of this technique for removing a group of neonicotinoid pesticides (thiamethoxam (TMX), imidacloprid (ICP), acetamiprid (ACP), and thiacloprid (TCP)) in a WWTP effluent. The influence of operating variables, such as current density, the conductivity of media, supporting electrolyte type (Na2SO4, NaCl or NaNO3), or the natural aqueous matrix on target variables were fully established. Selected target variables were: (1) the percentage of pollutant removal, (2) the kinetics (apparent pseudo-first-order kinetic rate constant), (3) total organic carbon (TOC) removal, and (4) the specific energy consumption (SEC). A response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to model the results for all cases. In the paper’s final part, this technology was tested with a more broad group of common emerging pollutants, including some azole pesticides (such as fluconazole (FLZ), imazalil (IMZ), tebuconazole (TBZ), or penconazole (PNZ)), antibiotics (amoxicillin (AMX), trimethoprim (TMP), and sulfamethoxazole (SMX)), and an antidepressant (desvenlafaxine (DVF)). The results confirm the power of this technology to remove this emerging contamination in WWTP effluents which supposes an interesting way towards its regeneration.