Multivariate effect of inorganic wastewater matrix on the removal of pesticides by solar photo-Fenton

M Aliste; C M Martínez; I Garrido; P Hellín; P Flores; J Fenoll

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118699

Multivariate effect of inorganic wastewater matrix on the removal of pesticides by solar photo-Fenton

J Environ Manage. 2023 Nov 1:345:118699. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118699. Epub 2023 Aug 1.

Authors

M Aliste¹, C M Martínez², I Garrido², P Hellín², P Flores², J Fenoll²

Affiliations

¹ Sustainability and Quality Group of Fruit and Vegetable Products. Murcia Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development, C/ Mayor S/n. La Alberca, 30150, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: marina.aliste@carm.es.
² Sustainability and Quality Group of Fruit and Vegetable Products. Murcia Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development, C/ Mayor S/n. La Alberca, 30150, Murcia, Spain.

PMID: 37536137
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118699

Abstract

An amount of works has reported the effect of wastewater matrix composition on pollutants removal by different AOPs. The biggest challenge is that each wastewater source has a challenging composition (organic and inorganic compounds, pollutants, etc.) and not only the concentration of all these species but also the interaction between them may affect the effectiveness of the studied process. This work has been carried out to evaluate the photo-degradation kinetics of six different pesticides (flutriafol, imidacloprid, myclobutanil, pirimicarb, thiamethoxam and triadimenol) by solar photo-Fenton (SPF) process at acidic pH. First, oxidant concentration (H₂O₂) was optimized with an actual WWTP effluent. Then, the process was validated with two different secondary and tertiary WWTP effluents, in which main intermediate transformation by-products were identified. Finally, the effect of the inorganic water matrix components (bicarbonate, chloride, sulphate, nitrate and phosphate) was evaluated by a multivariate analysis. Once H₂O₂ has been optimized at 30 mg L^-1, the photo-degradation efficiency of pesticides in real wastewater samples was compared. DOC content of both secondary and tertiary WWTP effluents was dropped by 67%. The identification of the main intermediate transformation by-products (such as 1H-1,2,4-triazole, desmethyl-formamido pirimicarb, thiamethoxam urea, chloronicotinic acid and imidacloprid urea) was reviewed. Following, the multivariate analysis on pesticides photo-degradation, generally, predicted four significant effects in common for the studied pesticides: a positive effect (interaction bicarbonate/nitrate) and three negative ones (chloride, phosphate and the interaction chloride/sulphate); among others. In addition, optimum values of inorganic ion concentrations, to obtain an optimum desirability on studied pesticides removal by SPF at acidic pH, were also evaluated.

Keywords: AOP; Actual wastewater; Contaminants; Multivariate analysis; Water matrix.

MeSH terms

Bicarbonates / analysis
Chlorides / analysis
Environmental Pollutants* / analysis
Hydrogen Peroxide / chemistry
Iron / chemistry
Nitrates / analysis
Oxidation-Reduction
Pesticides* / analysis
Thiamethoxam / analysis
Wastewater
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / chemistry

Substances

Wastewater
imidacloprid
pirimicarb
Pesticides
Hydrogen Peroxide
Iron
Thiamethoxam
Bicarbonates
Chlorides
Nitrates
Environmental Pollutants
Water Pollutants, Chemical