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Pharmaceutical substances and personal care products are an emerging class of aquaticcontaminants that have been increasingly detected in ground and surface waters worldwide(Halling-Sorensen et al., 1998; Stumpf et al., 1999; Heberer, 2002; Calamari et al., 2003).Metronidazole is extensively used throughout Europe for treating infections caused byanaerobic bacteria and protozoa (Lau et al., 1992). Metronidazole along with otherantibacterial and anticoccidial drugs with nitroimidazole structure is suspected of beingcarcinogens and mutagents (Daeseleire et al., 2000). Being non-biodegradable andsoluble in water, metronidazole is not removed during conventional sewage treatment(Kummerer et al., 2000); hence, it can accumulate in the aquatic environment.Consequently, it is of concern to water utilities and a potential threat to drinking waterresources. One of the novel technologies for treating polluted sources of drinking waterand industrial wastewater is the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) by which hydroxylradicals are generated in order to degrade organic pollutants (Ku et al., 1997). AOPs canbe applied to fully or partially oxidize pollutants, usually using a combination of two orthree oxidants. In this study the degradation of metronidazole using UV, UV/Hsub2/subOsub2/sub,Hsub2/subOsub2/sub/Fesup2+/sup, and UV/Hsub2/subOsub2/sub/Fesup2+/sup was investigated. Degradation rates and efficiencies werecompared between the UV photolysis and the three advanced oxidation processesapplied. Includes 9 references, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2005 Number of Pages: 5File Size: 1 file , 100 KB