The Development and Challenges of Oxidative Abatement for Contaminants of Emerging Concern

Abstract

For several years now, many substances that are known for saving the lives of billions of people, have paradoxically appeared as a new group of very dangerous contaminants. These compounds (for example, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, their metabolites, etc.) often have chronic and acute dangerous effects on humankind and other living beings. The presence of these pollutants is being documented and novel systems are being developed for their treatment every day. In this chapter, we review the literature from approximately the past 10 years, illustrating the decontamination of these chemicals by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). A range of methods including novel catalytic systems for hydroxyl radical production as well as computation methods for prediction of CEC removal rate constants and their transformations are discussed. Furthermore, many (bio)transformation (by)products possess different (lower/higher) toxicological fingerprints, which can now also be assessed by advanced modelling. Moreover, many of these AOPs are limited commercially by their high capital and operating costs. All of these issues are addressed in this book chapter.