Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Organizational Unit

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Keith E. Miller, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Michael Kerwin

Third Advisor

Martin Margittai

Fourth Advisor

Brian J. Majestic

Keywords

Gemfibrozil, Trimethoprim, VTR, Vertical tube reactor, Wastewater, Wet-air oxidation

Abstract

The ubiquitous occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in aquatic environments has raised concerns about potential adverse effects on aquatic ecology and human health. Certain pharmaceuticals have recently become a major focus of research to better understand the routes and persistence of these compounds once they enter into aquatic system.

In this research, two model compounds were selected to represent pharmaceuticals that have been identified by recent research as being persistent; specifically, these compounds were trimethoprim (TMP, a basic antibiotic) and gemfibrozil (GEM, an acidic lipid regulator). Treatment of synthetic wastewater that contained these drugs was accomplished using wet-air oxidation (WAO). Pre- and post-treatment drug concentrations were determined by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The influences of different operational conditions on removal efficiency of the drugs by WAO were evaluated, namely reaction time, initial drug concentration, oxygen concentration, and the amount and composition of additional organic matter used during WAO. The optimum removal efficiencies were found to be 91.9 % for TMP and 95.5 % for GEM.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Miao Sun

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

126 p.

Discipline

Chemistry, Water Resources Management

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