Catalytic ozonation by metal ions for municipal wastewater disinfection and simulataneous micropollutants removal

Several works in literature demonstrated that catalytic ozonation using metal ions promotes the decomposition of ozone and generation of hydroxyl radicals (HO•). The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of different metal ions (Fe2+, Co2+ and Al3+) in disinfection of urban wastewater through E.coli and Pseudomonas spp inactivation along with cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) depletion. Simultaneously, the effect of catalytic ozonation of secondary effluent on the selected micropollutants removal with different ozone kinetics (acetamiprid, dichlorvos and atrazine) was evaluated in semi-continuous operation. Results demonstrated that E.coli and Pseudomonas spp inactivation increased almost 20% with 1 mg L−1 Fe2+, Co2+, Al3+ and 40% with 10 mg L−1 Fe2+ compared with single ozonation. Fe2+ was the most effective metal ion on inhibiting regrowth after the treatments. The cellular ATP followed the same trend as the indicators microorganisms inactivation, with significant reduction of ATP over the treatment to single ozonation comparison. The ROH,O3 was applied for the treatments to quantify and compare the micropollutants removal by the radical pathway. The improvement of metal ions on ROH,O3 values occurred significantly for both stages of ozonation (before and after initial ozone demand) for all tested metals. Thus, metal ions addition to ozonation process provided an increase in simultaneous disinfection and pesticides removal as well as in the inhibition of bacterial reactivation, which resulted in savings between 30–50% of ozone dose needs compared with the same attainment in single ozonation.