Tiapride drug treatment by Advanced Oxidation Processes

Abstract

In recent years, it has been observed the appearance of a great amount of organic compounds in wastewaters, rivers and other surface flows. This compounds are pesticides or biocides, hygienic and personal care products, surfactants, antiseptics, flame retardants, disinfection subproducts, gasoline additives and even drugs. These compounds are known as emerging pollutants. Emerging pollutants tend to present a high molecular weight, an elevated persistence and a high toxicity, in addition they are not regulated by law. Moreover, in most cases, it is not known the risk they exert on the human health and on the environment. Furthermore, in the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which work through biological treatments, it is not possible to remove them completely due to their high stability. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are techniques developed in the last decades able to remove or increase the biodegradability of such compounds so that the effectiveness of biological treatments is augmented. These techniques are based on the formation of radicals with elevated oxidation power, such as hydroxyl radicals (HO•), capable of removing and mineralizing the pollutant molecules.In this work, the degradation and the mineralization of the pharmaceutical compound Tiapride, a neuroleptic used to treat mental illness, has been studied through Photolysis, Fenton and Photo-Fenton techniques in reactors with BLB (Black Light Blue) lamps and Heterogeneous Photocatalysis in a Solarbox reactor. Moreover, it has also been studied the interaction of the compound with Fe2+ ions and hydrogen peroxide in absence and presence of UV light, and with titanium oxide (IV) in absence of radiation. Photo-Fenton has been the Advanced Oxidation Process that achieved the best results. A 98.7% of degradation and a 44.4% of mineralization was obtained using concentrations of 100 ppm of H2O2, 10 ppm of Fe2+ and 50 ppm of Tiapridre