Aplicación de procesos de oxidación avanzada en depuración del agua

Abstract

Light-activated advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) represent a real and effective alternative for the removal of organic compounds and the disinfection of contaminated water; therefore, in this PhD thesis several aspects of the photochemical processes of pollutant degradation and microorganism inactivation are studied. Firstly, the application and efficiency of different photooxidation techniques for the removal of two pathogenic organisms present in shrimp farm water have been investigated. Since many pollutant transformation products are more toxic than the original compounds, the toxicity of two pesticides and their degradation products was also evaluated using biological indicators. Solar heterogeneous photocatalysis is probably the greenest and most sustainable method for water treatment. However, it has a major problem: the recovery of the catalyst and its loss of efficiency with use. For this reason, a new homogeneous photocatalyst has been developed, which combines semiconductors (titanium oxide and zinc oxide) with clays and which can be easily reused without significant loss of activity, for which a patent has been filed and granted. This composite has been tested under solar and artificial radiation for the degradation of several organic pollutants (phenol, methyl orange, terbumeton and Nhexylpyridinium bromide) and the inactivation of pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli), showing high efficiency even in complex aqueous matrices (river water, wastewater and sea water).