TREATMENT PHARMACEUTICAL WASTEWATER USING FENTON OXIDATION, ULTRAVIOLET, AND ULTRASOUND PROCESSES

This study assessed the performances of Fenton, ultraviolet/Fenton, ultrasound/Fenton and tri-hybrid process to remove COD from actual pharmaceutical industrial wastewater. This is the first data set on this type of wastewater yet assembled. Individual Fenton oxidation process shows fair COD removal efficiency (41.1%) under below optimum conditions: the mole ratio of H2O2 to Fe2+ of 4:1, the initial pH value of 4, Fe2+ dosage of 0.01 mol L-1. The ultraviolet/Fenton treatment showed a better COD removal efficiency than using Fenton alone which can be explained by the fact of synergetic effect. The combination of ultrasound with 60-minute Fenton oxidation provides greater COD removal efficiency, 61.1%, than that of ultrasound alone (48%) and Fenton oxidation alone (41.1%) which suggests that the combination of two individual processes can produce a synergistic effect. The tri-processes hybrid method can significantly increase the COD removal efficiency compared to that of individual and bi-process combination. Increasing UV exposure time can significantly increase the COD removal efficiency. Increasing of FeSO4 concentration the COD removal first increased at the range of 0.002-0.01 mol L-1 and then slightly decreased at higher concentrations. The highest COD removal rate, 91%, was found at the tri-hybrid process with 120 minutes ultrasound, 90-minute UV irradiation at the FeSO4 concentration of 0.01 mol L-1.